A Normal Family Trip
by Kai19
Summary: Sequel to Glimpse of the Future! Souta and his new niece and nephews have been invited to go to America to help Inuyasha and Shippou by none other than Sesshoumaru! But who's the weird guy that keeps following them around? And is that a SPIDER mark!
1. Souta's Essay

HEY EVERYONE!!! It's me again!! I know you missed me so much!!! (yeah right!!) Anyways, for anyone who doesn't know, this is a Sequel, so you need to read "Glimpse of the Future" first. Sorry bout that, everyone!!! Oh yeah. Still NOT MINE! None of them! BTW, I don't know when Souta's REAL birthday is, so I'm using it here just for the heck of it. Sorry!!  
  
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A Normal Family Trip  
  
Ch 1 The Essay  
  
  
  
"What I Did Over My Summer Vacation." Souta smiled as he read the title of his paper to the class. He usually hated these, because he had to listen to people talk about traveling to Disney World, or to another country, or even just visiting family by the coast. But now, he had his own story, and it would knock their socks off.  
  
He cleared his throat, and started to read.  
  
"Around 4 years ago, I met my niece and nephews for the first time. They're really nice, and fun to be around. Ever since then, they come to visit me about once a month, and even sometimes stay the night. They each have their own nicknames, and are great fighters.  
  
This summer, they came over once a week and started to teach me martial arts. I had a lot of trouble keeping up with them, but that's cuz they're a lot older than me, and can do a lot of things I can't.  
  
My niece, Kai, is a really good cook, and really smart. She's really strong, and is the best fighter in her family."  
  
This, of course, made many boys in the class scowl and laugh cynically. A couple of girls puffed up in pride, while a few looked confused. Including his teacher, Ms. Takamora. Souta ignored this and went on.  
  
"Juro is also really smart. He's Kai's twin brother, although they look nothing alike. He's also a good fighter, but he spends a lot of his time reading and writing. That's why they call him Juro the Scholar.  
  
Taisho is called Taisho the Mischievous, and likes to make jokes or pull pranks on people. But he's also kind of nice, and he's teaching me how to play the guitar as well, saying that everyone in the family has good ears, so hopefully it'll rub off on me.  
  
Kaedo, I think, is my mom's favorite. I think it's because while Kai is quiet, Kaedo is very talkative, but also really polite. Taisho calls him Kaedo the Kind.  
  
Mom, Grandpa and I have only seen my brother-in-law a few times. He showed up during one or two of my lessons, and even offered some advice. This normally wouldn't be a surprise, but since Sesshoumaru doesn't talk much to people, it was shocking to have him talk to me."  
  
The moment he said Sesshoumaru's name, the teacher had gotten a look of surprise on her face. Now she was looking at him as though trying to prove he was lying, and seemed to hit upon the perfect argument.  
  
"Souta?" Ms. Takamora said sweetly. Souta looked up at her, curious as to why she had interrupted him. "Souta, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to stop now. I now realize that you're not being entirely truthful in your paper." The class began to snicker behind their hands, making fun of what they saw as a little nobody who tried to look important, and failed.  
  
"But Ms. Takamora. I'm not making this up. It really happened. You see, Kai works for Sesshoumaru, and so." But the teacher interrupted again.  
  
"Souta! That's enough. I don't want to hear another word. Now go to your seat, and write out a REAL essay on what you did this summer, not some fantasy."  
  
"But."  
  
"NOW."  
  
Souta sadly made his way back to his desk, glad at least he got to sit next to the window, that way he wouldn't have to see all the kids pointing and laughing at him. He sat down and turned to look out the window, rather than write a new report. He knew this would make the teacher upset, but his new report would look exactly like the old one. Some birthday this was. Why did summer have to end? He had so much fun with Kai and the others. He could almost see them now.  
  
Wait! He could see them! There was Kai, in the lead as usual, with Juro next to her, and Taisho and Kaedo looking around behind them. They each wore sunglasses and either hats or bandannas (which he had been told was to keep people from staring at their eyes and ears). He smiled as he noticed they all wore short-sleeved t-shirts, showing off the stripes on their arms. And, of course, they each had their tails draped over themselves, across both shoulders or hanging over one shoulder.  
  
"Souta!" He looked up to see his teacher standing in front of him. "I sent you to your desk to write, not daydream! Now start writing!"  
  
"I'm sorry, Ms. Takamora, but it's just that I."  
  
"I don't want to hear it. Now get started, or else I'll have to call your mother."  
  
Souta knew that if she called his mom, she'd be told that Souta had done nothing but told the truth. He looked back out the window and tried to think of something to attract their attention. He reached out and scratched on the glass with a fingernail, hoping to get the "nails on the chalkboard" sound, which would reach their ears. They didn't seem to notice, but Ms. Takamora did.  
  
"That's it. Come on, we're going to call your mother." She held out her hand, as though to usher him from the seat down to the office. When he didn't move, she grabbed him, causing him to yelp. He looked up at her nervously.  
  
"Why do you keep saying I'm lying?" He finally asked as she partially dragged him up to the front of the class. She looked down at him disdainfully.  
  
"Well, you could never have nieces and nephews that are old enough to teach you martial arts, since your only sister is only about 5 years older than you, and even if she had children at that age, which wouldn't surprise me, they'd only be about 4 or 5 years old. So you can't have nieces and nephews that old, and even if you did, they STILL wouldn't work for Sesshoumaru, considering he's one of the richest men in all of Japan."  
  
Souta had only latched onto a few things. But the one thing he had noticed was her talk about Kagome. "What did you say about Kagome?"  
  
"Kagome? Oh, your sister, the one who seems to magically give birth to fully-grown adults. You're a liar, and I'm going to make sure your mother knows it."  
  
So involved was everyone in the scene before them, no one had noticed when the door had opened under Kai's hand. She and Juro took in the scene, while Kaedo and Taisho fumed behind them at hearing their mother insulted, and their uncle humiliated.  
  
~~~~  
  
Ouch.. I don't wanna be in her shoes!! Anyways, I finally got this one started. I understand Souta's pain, though. At my school, we wrote those essays all the way up till my senior year! Scary, huh?? Well, feel free to review!! I'm hoping people like this one, too!! 


	2. FamilyTeacher Conference

HEY EVERYONE!! Okay, poll time!! Do you want me to put Kagome in this one?? If so, do you want her to still be alive, or in flashbacks? Cuz I've seen a few stories that have given me ideas as to how I could tie in a still-living Kagome, but would you want that, or would you guys want Kagome to be like Inuyasha's mother, and, unfortunately, as all humans do, die? You're gonna have to review/email/IM with your votes!!! Well, Sorry for bothering you!! Here's chapter 2 for you!!! By the way! Oh yeah, and they're still not mine!  
  
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Ch 2 Family/Teacher Conference  
  
  
  
Souta was brought back to reality when he heard a low rumble that sounded familiar. Where had he heard it from? He recognized Juro's growl as the two younger demons began to growl with him. Only Kai was calm, but Souta knew that just because she was calm, didn't mean she was happy.  
  
The teacher seemed to notice her four new visitors, each one wearing either a cap or a bandanna on their heads, even the woman! They all had long hair and tattoos, and each wore sunglasses. Punks, she thought. And what kind of punk dyes their hair WHITE?  
  
"Excuse me, I don't know who you are or what you want, but you're going to have to go to the office and sign in, while I call this boy's mother." She jerked on his arm for emphasis and to make him start walking. What she didn't know was that she had just pissed off one of the most powerful demons in existence.  
  
"Let. Him. Go." Kai gritted out, and Souta's eyes widened. He knew that tone. He had only heard it a few times, and that was usually right before she attacked someone. Even her brothers had stopped growling, and were looking at her nervously. Souta looked up at his teacher's angry face, and watched as she sneered at his niece.  
  
"Listen, lady, I don't know who you are, but this is one of my students, and a chronic liar. He needs to be taught that lies will not be tolerated." For what Souta thought was the first time ever, his teacher was the one interrupted, by a very angry Kai, who finally took a step into the room.  
  
"And what, pray tell, did he lie about?" Souta could feel the ice dripping from Kai's tone, and knew that he was being rescued. But why were they here in the first place?  
  
"He was telling some story about nieces and nephews older than him, and about being related to Mr. Sesshoumaru, and then, proceeded to disobey me when I told him to write a true story, and merely looked out the window! And by the way, young lady, I don't know if anyone's told you, but it is against the rules to wear hats inside the building. And that includes that rag on your head, ma'am! Also, it's rude to talk to someone while wearing sunglasses. So you and your friends are not welcome in this room, nor in this school. Now, if you will excuse me."  
  
His teacher took a step towards Kai, expecting her to back up, only to be met with a veritable wall, made up of four people. She glared at them angrily, as though telling them to move or else. Finally, Kai spoke.  
  
"Boys, you heard the woman. It's rude to wear sunglasses and hats inside the building." Kai smiled a smile that chilled Souta to the bone, as he had only seen it when she had been attacked by a gang intending to rape her. She had given Souta that smile, letting him know that she was planning on having fun.  
  
Ms. Takamora tapped her foot impatiently, wondering what the idiot girl was smiling about, and why Higurashi was so quiet now. Her eyes widened when the woman removed her sunglasses, taking in the long, extra- sharp nails that no manicurist could shape. The woman's eyes were sapphire- blue, and seemed to almost be glowing. She looked at the man next to her, only to notice his nails were the same, as were the younger boys'. She was looking at the middle boy's golden, slitted eyes when he reached up and pulled off his baseball cap, showing long white hair, and. two small ears sitting atop his head!  
  
She looked at each of them in turn, noticing that two had black hair, two had white, two had blue eyes, and two had golden, but every eye had a slitted pupil, like a cat's, and each head of hair boasted two small dog- ears on top.  
  
Her eyes narrowed, deciding it was a trick to throw her off-guard. So they had somehow gotten a manicurist to sharpen their nails, had colored and slitted contacts, fake ears and dyed their hair. Then Kai smiled. At the sight of those fangs, looking so natural in this woman's mouth she finally released the Higurashi boy.  
  
"Children." She spoke to the class now, afraid to move, deciding these people must be after her, and if she moved, they would attack. What kind of people where these, anyway?! She knew that she needed to try and keep the other children safe. "Kids, stay away from them. As far away as possible. Move slowly, now."  
  
Kai almost laughed then. She thinks we're a gang, and not only that, we'd attack kids, and that we're stupid enough to not hear her. She heard Juro chuckle beside her, ever so softly.  
  
Souta looked at his teacher, and at the other kids, then looked over at his demon family. Kaedo was smiling at Taisho, who was grinning at the kids cowering in a far corner of the room, while Juro and Kai faced off against his teacher. Then Juro looked down at Souta and grinned. Souta smiled back, and ran over to Juro, who kneeled down to pick him up.  
  
Ms. Takamora saw the boy pass by her towards the freaks in her doorway. She reached out to grab him and pull him back, only to watch as the man with black hair and golden eyes leaned down to pick up her student. She looked up at them, surprised, as the younger boys began to talk to Souta quietly. But that woman, she was still looking at her with those blue eyes.  
  
"Souta!" He turned in Juro's arms, looking away from Kaedo and Taisho towards his teacher, who was watching him in shock. "What are you doing?!"  
  
Souta couldn't stop the smile this time. "These are the ones I was telling you about. My niece and nephews." He watched as his teacher's jaw fell open, taking in what he said. He looked back up to Juro, then noticed that Kai had finally turned her attention to Souta. She was relaxed, and he even saw one of her small smiles begin, the kind she gave him when she was proud of him.  
  
She couldn't believe her eyes. If the Higurashi boy was telling the truth, then these weird people were his family. But how??  
  
Taisho grinned and stepped forward. Everyone always told him how much he looked like his Uncle Sesshoumaru, especially with his red stripes. When the teacher's eyes turned to him, he puffed his chest up in pride. Her eyes widened, and he knew she was finally figuring out who he could possibly be.  
  
"I'll be sure and tell my Uncle Sesshoumaru that you send your highest regards, and sincerest apologies in the handling of his brother-in- law." Taisho was glad that after about 500 years, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's forced truce had developed to where they defended each other, and to where they actually could agree and get along somewhat. Sesshoumaru finally stopped asking for the Tetsusaiga, and seemed to like spending time with his niece and nephews, and had recently taken an interest in Souta's training.  
  
Kaedo looked at his brother, and grinned. Too bad he didn't have a blue pen or something to draw the crescent moon with. That would have really shocked her. Or better yet, if Shippou had been here, then he could have changed into Sesshoumaru for her. But their Uncle had asked that Inuyasha and Shippou go on a trip to America to close a deal with some people there. Sesshoumaru himself would have gone, but he had been quite a few times, and their father and his kitsune friend had only been there a couple of times. They tended to stay near Japan and near the shrine where Kagome was raised.  
  
The kids watched, wide-eyed, as the woman stepped forwards, her long white hair reaching past her hips. Her blue eyes locked onto their teacher's, and she spoke very softly before turning and walking away, tying her bandanna back on her head. The boys all grinned, and the two young ones placed their baseball caps back on their heads before bowing and following the woman into the hall. Finally, only the man carrying Souta was left.  
  
Juro looked over at the kids. They were all in shock, and a few were staring at the tail draped over his left shoulder. He looked back at the teacher, who hadn't moved since Kai had whispered her warning: "Souta is an honest boy, and you had better hope I never see you grabbing him like that again." He sighed. Kai was so protective of her family. He bowed to the teacher, and turned to depart, when he heard a girl's voice calling out to him from the huddle she was in, sounding like a horrible brat as she whined out.  
  
"Is that a mink fur?"  
  
Souta decided to answer for Juro, who was looking at Tayo with one eyebrow raised. "No, it's not a mink. It's not a fox or a rabbit fur, either, Tayo."  
  
"Oh." The girl was quiet for all of two seconds, allowing Souta to try and place the cap back on his nephew's head without hurting his ears.  
  
"Then it must not be that nice. Why do you wear it, anyway, you're a boy!"  
  
Souta looked into Juro's eyes, noticing that the golden orbs almost flashed with mischief worthy of Taisho. Souta looked at the mean girl and stated clearly, "It's dog fur."  
  
Almost immediately, every child gasped in shock, and a few asked how he could wear dog fur. Juro rolled his eyes and winked at Souta. He knew Kai was probably wondering where the hell he was, but she'd get a laugh when he told her about this. He looked back at the class, and decided it was time for a demonstration.  
  
"Well, kids, because it's not just plain dog fur. Do you know what youkai are?" A few nodded, but most looked confused. He sighed. "An Inu- Youkai is also known as a dog-demon. This is dog-demon fur."  
  
There was still a couple of voices asking how he could kill a dog, demon or not. He couldn't help it. He laughed. He grinned at Souta as he moved his tail finally, wrapping Souta up in it and moving him behind him, freeing both his hands to straighten his cap, and place his shades back on the tip of his nose, looking over them at the class, who were now in total shock.  
  
"I never said it was DEAD dog-demon fur. Just that it was dog-demon fur." He grinned at them, then bowed again before turning to follow Kai and his brothers before saying nonchalantly over his shoulder, "MY fur, to be precise."  
  
Souta tried not to laugh as he told the frozen Ms. Takamora he would see her Monday for class. This only caused her jaw to fall open, and Souta began to laugh as he was carried down the hall wrapped in Juro's black tail, burying his hands in the thick fur.  
  
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Whew!! It's 12:30 over here (and I mean in the morning, too!!) Hope you guys like it!! How would you like that kind of teacher conference?? HAHA! Well, feel free to review!! (By the way, for anyone wondering, I HIGHLY doubt anyone will tell people that an inu-youkai was at their school. And even if they did, who'd believe them?!) Review, and place your vote! Bye for now! 


	3. Souta's Present

Well, I've gotten a couple of votes saying let Kagome live, and one person put it so I couldn't resist. "No sense putting poor Inu-chan through any more angst when you don't have to". Okay, okay, you twisted my arm. Kagome WILL be included in this story!! That's one reason why it took so long to get this chapter out! I was waiting for some votes!! Oh, yeah, and again, NOT MINE!  
  
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Ch 3 Souta's Present  
  
  
  
Kai finally stopped laughing about 5 minutes after hearing about Juro's little bout of show-and-tell. Taisho had tears running down his cheeks, as did Kaedo after hearing Souta and Juro tell about the shocked faces, and the cries about the fur. Kai sighed, trying to calm down as she drove back to the Higurashi shrine. They had a lesson today, but most importantly, it was Souta's birthday. That was why she had asked her brothers if they thought he'd like to be picked up early.  
  
They were actually intending on just having them call for the boy, but Kai could smell anger and fear very, very faintly, and when had begun to follow her nose, she had heard Souta's yelp of surprise. Well, she thought, I don't think we're going to have to worry about his teacher ever trying to punish him again.  
  
Souta looked at the four demons, smiling as he watched their laughing faces. When Kai began to calm down again, he finally asked the question that had been sitting at the back of his head since he had heard Juro's growl.  
  
"Um, Kai, why were you guys there today, anyway?" Kaedo, as usual, decided to answer for his sister, who merely kept her eyes on the road as she maneuvered her way through traffic.  
  
"Well, it's your birthday, isn't it?" Kaedo teased. "And here we thought you'd be happy to see us, and to be picked up early from school for once!" Kaedo pretended to pout, only to be rewarded with a hug from Souta.  
  
"I don't mind, it's just that I was curious when you. OH NO!"  
  
Even Kai's system jump-started as she looked around for what had made her uncle react that way. Juro spun around in his seat and looked worriedly at Souta, who seemed to have just realized all his school supplies were still at the school, by his desk.  
  
"I forgot my bag!! All my books were in it!"  
  
A collective sigh rippled through the car as the four demons relaxed. Taisho lightly punched Souta's shoulder, putting barely any force behind it to keep from hurting him. "Man, don't scare me like that! I thought we were under attack or something!" He groaned and slouched in his seat, while Kaedo laughed at him.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Souta was surprised to see another car at his house when they arrived, even more surprised when he realized it was none other than Sesshoumaru's. Wow! He thought. everyone's here for my birthday! Wait until I tell HIM the story! And I can even take a picture of our family back to school on Monday! This day was going much, much better.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Sesshoumaru sat at the kitchen table, drinking tea with Mrs. Higurashi and her father while he waited for the kids to get home. He knew they had intended to go and get Souta from school, and had decided to meet them here. He sighed into his tea as he thought about what he should do. Inuyasha and Shippou had emailed him, saying that the Americans didn't believe they were dealing with the REAL Sesshoumaru, considering they had somehow gotten word of his ability to be seen in two separate places at the same time. They declared that they didn't trust anyone who PRETENDED to be Sesshoumaru, and that they would await his arrival to the U.S.  
  
Well Inuyasha, he thought to himself, it looks like you and I are going to talk to them together. He felt a small smile tugging at his lips as he went over his plan. A trip to America. Just what the kids needed. And that would be his birthday present for Souta. A family trip, and he would have his best bodyguards nearby, in the event that something serious happened. Like they were stuck there for 2 weeks. Plus, they'd get to see the rest of their family. Poor Inuyasha, he thought almost sympathetically, the new moon is only 12 days away. You were supposed to have been back by then. Stupid, paranoid Americans.  
  
He heard Kai's car pull up near his, and turned to look towards the door. At Mrs. Higurashi's questioning glance, he merely said, "They're here," before standing and walking to the door. He had already told his hosts about his plan, and they had agreed that Souta could go with him and the others, since they knew he would be more than safe, and that it was only fair since they had let Kagome travel into the past when she was only 15.  
  
He was greeted at the door with a delighted Souta, who insisted on telling him a story, something about school. When he saw the others walking slowly behind him, he understood. They wanted Souta to have his undivided attention. He always felt like he was reliving his life with Rin when Souta was around. He glanced at the boy's hopeful face, and nodded to show that he was listening.  
  
He was regaled with the story of how the boy had written a report over his summer for class, but the teacher has called him a liar, and was about to punish him when the four siblings had appeared on the scene, and convinced the teacher (with a flash of claw and fang, of course) that Souta didn't need to be hurt in any way. Ever. He smiled slightly as he heard about Kai's defiant smile and show of her ears and eyes, coupled with her whispered warning. He could imagine Taisho's face as he grinned at fearful human children, with Kaedo smiling behind him, trying not to laugh. He actually chuckled softly as he listened to Juro's speech to the kids and the use of his tail. He honestly wished he had been there.  
  
Then Souta said something that really attracted his attention.  
  
"Yeah, she said that there was no way anyone in my family could work for you, let alone be related to you. Taisho proved her wrong, though. I really wish you had been there, or maybe Uncle Shippou in your form, she'd have been really surprised then! But I think Taisho scared her enough." Sesshoumaru looked down at the young man who was, in all actuality, his brother-in-law. He almost laughed aloud. Five hundred years ago, he would be agreeing with the boy's teacher, but now. He had raised Rin, and had even visited Inuyasha and Kagome occasionally in their human village, and still visited them. Plus with the four demon siblings being the children of a human, well, he had had to rethink his policy.  
  
"Sesshoumaru?" He looked up into Kai's blue eyes, and felt the same shock as he always did at knowing that this powerful demon was his niece. He sighed as he looked from her to her brothers, who stood close by, waiting to see what was going on.  
  
"First of all," Sesshoumaru began, "I'd like to say Happy Birthday to you, Souta." This resulted in a wide smile and hug from Kagome's younger brother, which still felt odd to Sesshoumaru, as he wasn't very used to hugging people.  
  
"Second, I'm proud of you for refusing to back down from your beliefs." Another smile from Souta. "And I'm proud of you four for getting the point across that just because something sounds impossible, doesn't mean it IS impossible. You yourselves prove that theory." The four demons blushed slightly and bowed to him in thanks.  
  
"And third. My gift for Souta." He looked to his brother's children. "It seems your father and uncle were unable to convince the Americans, so I must go to them." They all looked at him curiously, as though trying to figure out how this was a gift. Yet another thing he was still unused to. People who actually missed him when he was away. He remembered when he had hired Inuyasha and his family, waiting until after Kai and the others had their fated run-in with his past self. He had been impatient, but now had the best fighters available on his team.  
  
Another sigh. "Well, I just thought that I should take my best men, and woman," he said, nodding his head towards Kai to show he had meant no disrespect, "with me. And since I doubt I could tear you away from your other Uncle on the weekend you're supposed to spend with him, I have asked if he could come with us." At this, everyone's eyes lighted up, and they all looked at him expectantly, hoping and fearing the answer.  
  
"They agreed." A cry rose up, laughter and cheering sounding throughout the yard. He ran a clawed hand through his white hair, just as long as ever, due mostly to Kai's insistence that it looked better on him. He had been hesitant about it at first, even though every one of his nephews had long hair, just like their parents and uncle. His fingers brushed against the crescent moon on his forehead, the symbol that marked him as Taiyoukai of the Western Lands. It had been so long that a mere mark could instill fear and respect.  
  
He was brought back to earth by the feeling of being caught in what they called a "group hug", everyone's arms wrapped around him as they thanked him. He waited until they were finished and then crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Souta. "Well, don't you think you had better pack? Our flight leaves in a few hours."  
  
At this, Souta leapt up and ran off, jumping and cheering occasionally. Mrs. Higurashi came outside and smiled at the group of demons before her. 5 or 6 years ago, she'd have run away in terror, but now, she simply thought of them as part of the family. An eccentric part, but a large part. She cleared her throat to get their attention, and when she had 4 pairs of eyes focused on her (and one glancing from the corner of his eye), she announced that dinner would be ready in 15 minutes, if they wanted to wait.  
  
The group turned, almost in unison, towards Sesshoumaru with pleading looks on their faces. At his nod, the four began to cheer again, and a smiling Mrs. Higurashi went back inside to work on dinner with her father.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Well, there ya go! Chapter 3! And don't worry, you'll see Kagome soon enough! I've even thought of a way to make it work! YAY! Thank you to the few people who voted! You made my day!! Now if only more people would review..... (hint hint) Also, do you think there should be any pairings in this? And if so, who?? Come on, people! I won't know if you don't write!! For anyone who doesn't know yet, my email's psylock1234@inuyasha.nu and my AIM name is Psylock1234. See you soon! 


	4. A Long Flight and a Scared Stewardess

Hey everyone, me again!!! I know you missed me so much!! Guess what?! This is the last chapter I had pre-written!! In fact, I just wrote that last paragraph!! I'm hoping to still be able to update at least twice a day, but please don't hate me if I'm only able to get in one chapter a day. I'm back at college again, so I have to work on homework, too. I sorry!! Could be worse!! My dad's trying to make me get a job!! NOOOO!!! Okay, away from that, here's your new chapter! And they're still not mine!! Although I did get the cute little dolls of them for Christmas. hehe.  
  
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Ch 4 A Long Flight. And a scared stewardess  
  
Souta sighed and leaned back in the airplane seat, relaxing as he watched the clouds go by his window. Sesshoumaru's servant, Jaken, had gotten them all first-class seats, so Souta had much more room than usual. Next to him was Kai, partially because Taisho and Kaedo wanted to sit together, and Souta wouldn't have felt comfortable sitting next to Sesshoumaru, and lonely next to the reading Juro. It was also partially because his favorite pastime when he had first met them had been to play with Kai's tail, and she seemed to have a lot more patience with him.  
  
The only problem they had come across with taking an overnight flight was the fact that when Kai fell asleep, she tended to produce a shield around her which blasted back anyone who tried to touch her or anyone she was protecting. Sesshoumaru and Juro sat behind them and the younger demons sat in front of him. The flight attendants had been somewhat curious (and suspicious) when 5 people and a teenager had boarded the plane and sat in first class, all but the youngest boy (himself) wearing sunglasses, and some type of furry boa. And then four of them had baseball caps on!  
  
She had asked to see their identification, and after glancing at Sesshoumaru's, became slightly more nervous in fear of alienating such an important public figure, and decided it was okay for them to be odd if they wanted. He merely shrugged it off and sat down, leaving the other four demons to choose their seats.  
  
Souta yawned and rested his head against the back of his chair, only to feel it slide until it bumped into something soft and warm. He looked to see what he had hit, and was greeted by Kai's smiling face, her blue stripes making her look more fierce. He blinked and she laughed at him before lifting the armrest between them and letting him rest his head on her lap, stretching out as much as possible. He slowly fell asleep to the feeling of her fingers moving lightly over his back, careful not to let her claws scratch him.  
  
Kai smiled as she looked down at her uncle, then remembered that yawns were contagious as she felt her own mouth open wide. Unfortunately, a stewardess had chosen just that moment to walk by, and got a view of a set of fangs that made her stop in her tracks.  
  
Stretching out her body, being careful not to wake the boy whose head rested on her lap, she looked up at the shocked flight attendant and smiled.  
  
"Um, excuse me, miss?" The woman blinked as she looked at the demoness before her. Juro grinned as he looked up at the poor woman who had been unlucky enough to see Kai's fangs. He knew Kai didn't mind, but was curious to see if the woman asked about it.  
  
"I just wanted to tell you to not bother trying to wake me or this boy up. When we land, I'm sure one of my brothers will wake me." Juro noticed she didn't warn her about waking Taisho and Kaedo, and wondered if she was going to stretch out her tail for them or not. He knew her tail was only so long, and it would probably only be able to lay on the armrest, but still, the boys would use it as a pillow.  
  
The stewardess nodded and began to walk by them towards the coach section, only to be stopped by Juro's raised hand. Sesshoumaru glanced at Juro's grinning face and then at the stewardess. He had also heard Kai's request, and wondered what Juro was going to say.  
  
"Yes sir?" She seemed a bit nervous, after all, she did just see a woman with odd teeth, heard a warning to not touch her, was standing next to one of the richest men in Japan, if not Asia, and now his friend was flagging her down. Why me? She thought.  
  
Juro smiled at her nervous reaction, and spoke to her calmly.  
  
"Um, ma'am, I just wanted to add on to her request." He watched as her eyes widened, and he tried not to laugh at the visible fear in her. "I'd like to extend the request to the two boys in front of her. They tend to hit the people that try to wake them up, and we don't want you getting hurt. I'm used to it by now, so I'll wake them up for you." He nodded to her, and went back to his book, focusing on the words as he felt the woman's fear start to fade away, right before she quickly hurried past, trying to avoid glancing back at the six people who had just made her believe every tale her grandparents had told her.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Sesshoumaru looked over at the sleeping Juro, his book open on his lap as his head rested against the back of the seat. He glanced in front of him, only to realize that Kai had fallen asleep as well, with Souta still laying on her lap, but with her tail over him and stretched out to lay on the armrest of the chair in front of her, where both Kaedo and Taisho were using it as a pillow. He was curious to see if her sleeping shield was really there, as he had heard Juro say so long ago. He had never been able to test it out himself.  
  
He reached out a hand slowly, reminding himself not to touch Kai, merely to get close enough. He remembered Juro's story and how he had seen a blue aura when he got too close, but that it hadn't reacted violently until he touched her. As his hand got closer, he watched the air around Kai, ready to see how strong she really was. His eyes widened imperceptibly as he felt a slight tingle climb up the back of his neck. There, glowing softly around Kai's body was a faint blue light that grew brighter and stronger the closer his hand came.  
  
He nodded and pulled his hand back, adding that to his list of her abilities as he relaxed into the seat, following the siblings' example as he drifted off to sleep.  
  
~~*~~  
  
The Next Morning....  
  
The stewardess looked at the fluffy thing that went from the woman's seat to the armrest in front of her. What WAS that thing? She shook her head, and tried to remember whom the other attendant had said not to touch.  
  
Ah, yes! Don't touch the woman with the white hair or the boy on her lap, nor the boys in front of her. If she needed to wake up any of them, it would be the black-haired man behind them. She put on her most kind smile as she reached over to try and rouse the sleeping bookworm.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kagome looked at her watch. Their flight should be arriving any minute, she thought. Inuyasha and Shippou were both at the hotel they were staying at, Shippou still sleeping, most likely, and Inuyasha probably grumbling about stupid Americans while watching TV. She laughed at the mental picture, and pushed her sunglasses back up on the bridge of her nose, hoping no one noticed her eyes, especially the pupils. She had gone with the pair to the U.S. in hopes of keeping them from having yet another argument that would result in her husband chasing around the kitsune. She had been sad at having to miss Souta's birthday, but when Sesshoumaru emailed them back, saying that he was bringing Souta and her kids with him as a birthday present, she was delighted. And now, here she stood, waiting for that damned plane to land.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
TOLD YOU! There was a bit of Kagome for you! Besides, think about it. Knowing Shippou's and Inuyasha's relationship, do you honestly think they could go anywhere by themselves without arguing?? Hahaha... Well, review, please!!!!! 


	5. A Rude Awakening

Hey everyone! I'm back!! Yeah, yeah, I know, stop with the groaning already, okay?!? Anyways, I'm delighted at the reviews I've gotten so far!! Keep 'em coming, please!! And they're still not mine!!  
  
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Ch 5 Rude Awakening  
  
  
  
Juro woke up to the feeling of someone speaking to him and shaking his shoulder slightly. He slowly cracked open an eye, only to see a flight attendant, a different one than before, smiling at him, telling him they were going to be landing soon. He simply nodded as he stretched out, yawning. She had already walked off, though, and so didn't get the same view as her friend had.  
  
With a glance next to him, he saw that Sesshoumaru was also awake, but for how long, Juro had no clue. His uncle looked at him, and he could have sworn he saw curiosity in his eyes before turning to look at the sleeping figures in front of them. Juro followed his gaze, and saw that Kai appeared to still be asleep. He groaned inwardly. She was usually awake pretty early, but apparently she decided to sleep in. Of all the days... he thought to himself.  
  
He was about to try and talk to Kai in hopes of waking her, only to be distracted by a movement at the end of her tail. Kaedo and Taisho were moving!! He cursed under his breath when Kaedo sat up and stretched, severing his connection to Kai. Juro knew that any second, Taisho would also raise his head up, and break the link he and Kai had. He had to think fast.  
  
"Taisho! Pull Kai's tail!"  
  
~~*~~  
  
In the back of the plane, Sarah was re-telling her friend Amber why she had begged for her to wake up the black-haired man for her.  
  
"No, really! I swear! She had FANGS! She was yawning, and I saw them!! They looked sharp, too!"  
  
Amber sighed and shook her head. The man she had woken up hadn't seemed that odd. Well, except that he had slept with his baseball cap on, and his sunglasses had slipped down, and she thought she saw gold eyes, but other than that, they were okay. Even if their idea of fashion was a little odd.  
  
"They could have been fake, you know. Some stores sell vampire fangs and stuff like that." Poor Sarah had come back the night before, her eyes wide as she told her friend what she had seen and heard. Amber personally thought Sarah had spent just a little too much time in the air. That and she was no longer going to be allowed to prepare the drink cart.  
  
"But they looked real!! They were so natural in there! And SHARP!" Sarah turned her wide eyes to her fellow attendant, who had just returned after waking up the man. She noticed the look she was getting, and was about to defend herself yet again, only to be cut off by a loud yelp of pain and surprise, coming from someone in first class.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Souta was trying not to laugh as he heard Juro and Taisho explain again why Kai had been awoken by a sharp jerk to her tail, which had caused her to cry out and wake up anyone else within a 8-meter radius. She was still stroking her tail where Taisho had gripped it right before yanking on it, but now it was more absentmindedly, and less angrily.  
  
He looked over at Kaedo, who was also trying not to grin as he followed his family down the exit ramp, towards the inside of the airport. They didn't know who was going to meet them, since Sesshoumaru had only told them that they had a ride waiting for them. He was curious as to who it'd be, since he knew that Inuyasha, Shippou, and Kagome were all here already. Were one of them picking them up, or...  
  
His thoughts were cut short at the sight of a young woman with long, black hair, a single streak of white going down the right side. She didn't have stripes, but she was wearing a cap also, her sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose, her face split into that oh-so-familiar smile. Without another thought, he ran past the siblings and straight into the woman's arms, hugging her and feeling her hug him back.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kagome laughed and hugged her little brother back. She had smelled all of their familiar scents, but was still surprised when her brother had barreled into her, just like Shippou had done until he got so big that when he hit her, she fell down. Now he was a full-grown demon, with improved skill and power, but also handsome enough to get them followed by girls anytime they went anywhere.  
  
She looked at her brother from behind the dark lenses that hid the slitted pupils in her blue eyes from humans who might get scared. "Happy Birthday, Souta!! Me and the guys talked about it last night when we found out you were coming, and we decided we're gonna take you out tonight! It's only fitting!!"  
  
"Really?!" Souta looked at his sister hopefully, and watched as her grin spread wider.  
  
"Okay, I decided that." She grinned and rolled her eyes. "Inuyasha and Shippou were busy arguing over who would get the last of the Ramen I had at the hotel. Inuyasha was shocked when I told him room service here didn't make Ramen. So while he was yelling about that, Shippou went and grabbed the last pack, and tried to hurry and get it made and eaten before Inuyasha could notice. Inuyasha noticed, of course." She sighed and shook her head. "In the end, Shippou had a few lumps on the head, and Inuyasha was laying face down on the ground. The people from the hotel came and asked if everything was okay, since they'd heard yelling, but I convinced them we were fine, only to turn around and see a certain white-haired someone devouring the last bit of Ramen."  
  
A slight scuffle was heard behind them, and they both turned to notice that the two younger demons with white hair were blushing and trying hard not to look at their mother.  
  
Kagome laughed and hugged Souta again before going to hug her children, then bow to Sesshoumaru and thank him for bringing her family with him. He merely nodded in her direction before starting to walk towards the luggage carousel, knowing that everyone would follow him as they usually did.  
  
As they stood waiting to catch sight or scent of their suitcases, Souta told her all about the incident at school, causing Kagome to become angry until he told her how her kids showed up and defended him. She laughed when she heard what Juro had done, watching a blush creep into his cheeks.  
  
He turned back to watch for the luggage with everyone else, only to see a teenage boy staring at Kai oddly. Probably her markings and hair color is what has him acting weird, he thought, and simply shrugged it off, glancing around for any sight of his suitcase.  
  
But then it all went wrong.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Well, there's ch 5 for you!! I actually JUST wrote it! Feel loved, people!! Hehe.. Well, feel free to review! I hope I haven't become rusty!! 


	6. New Friends are Made

Hey! Me again!! Yeah, yeah, I know, stop complaining. Anyways, I'm back, and I'm here with the next chapter! Enjoy!! And don't forget, they're not mine!!!!  
  
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Ch 6 New Friends are made  
  
  
  
David groaned as he looked at the four luggage carousels in front of him. He could NEVER get it right! He always ended up at the wrong place, and would finally end up just running back and forth, hoping to see some familiar faces from his flight. He tried not to remind himself that he was stuck here for 2 weeks, since the reason for his visit was standing behind him. His grandmother laughed at something her friend had said and patted his shoulder, saying that she was going to go sit down by the doors while he looked for his suitcase. He only nodded and muttered "okay", turning to look at her slightly to show he was listening. But he stopped the moment he saw them. It was a whole group. Were they a band or something?? And what was with the sunglasses? There, standing almost directly next to him was a group of seven of the oddest people he had ever seen. Well, 6 of them were odd. One looked almost normal. But he was currently yammering away to one of the only two females in the whole group, so he had to be with them. Are they a family, he thought? Perhaps they were albino. That would explain the white hair and sunglasses. But what about the ones with dark hair? And why did they have tattoos on their faces? He looked at the one closest to him, and was surprised. It was a girl, also with white hair, but unlike the rest of the group, her tattoos were blue, and she had one stripe more. And here I thought the people back home were freaks, he thought, only to notice that the boy had turned around from the woman he had been talking to, and had seen him staring at the girl. He watched as the boy shrugged and went to looking for his luggage again.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kai sighed as she looked around, trying to at least get a glimpse of her luggage. She would be sniffing for it, like the others were doing, but the lady next to her had on some really strong perfume. Does she bathe in it or something?! Kai thought, only to point out seconds later to herself that it was probably mostly due to her sensitive nose, and her close proximity. Then her ears, hidden under her cap, barely picked up the sound of someone trying to push their way through the crowd behind her. She snorted. Americans, she thought. Always in a hurry. She tuned him out, and so didn't notice when he tripped over one of Kaedo's suitcases, heading straight at her.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Souta glanced over at the guy again, watching his face. He was staring at them like they were freaks. He turned to look at Kai, only to see someone behind her trip, and grab the first thing they could to straighten themselves. Unfortunately for everyone, that thing ended up being Kai's tail, which was still kind of sensitive from being pulled to wake her up. She yelped in surprise and spun around, causing the man to quickly remove his hands, only to realize he still wasn't balanced, and reach out again. Souta's eyes widened when the man's hands grabbed the brim of Kai's cap, ripping it off her head and knocking off her sunglasses as he felt to the ground.  
  
~~*~~  
  
"Mommy, look!! That woman has doggy-ears!!" The voice reached Sesshoumaru's ears almost the moment the man hit the ground. He hadn't been paying much attention, but he kept noticing Souta glancing at some boy nearby, and had heard his gasp when Kai's disguise had been removed. He had immediately turned to see what had happened, as had all of the family, and they were now staring at a revealed demoness, standing in a circle of spectators, many of whom were either staring and pointing or backing away in fear.  
  
What upset Sesshoumaru the most, though, was Kai's reaction. She was proud of her youkai heritage, and didn't hide her markings, nor her hair. And while she could have gone on without her sunglasses, her ears were now obvious for all to see. And with so much noise around, they were twitching here and there, which only caused to make others more cautious. She wasn't embarrassed, but he could almost smell the adrenaline pumping through her veins, and through the other demons as well. She was nervous. And there. He could barely smell it, but it was a slight scent of fear coming from his niece.  
  
He knew if she was caught, they would try and perform experiments on her until she was nothing but a lifeless shell. And now, here she stood in an airport with everyone staring at those damned ears, which she couldn't stop twitching.  
  
~~*~~  
  
He had felt his jaw drop the moment the woman's cap was knocked off. What's up with those ears on top of her head, he thought to himself. That was when David heard some little girl point out that same feature to her mother, and saw the white-haired woman stiffen, and appear ready to run, and willing to fight anyone who got in her way.  
  
Man, too bad Trent ain't here! He'd love those ears! Hell, the drama club would KILL for something like..... Then it hit him. Well, he thought, I guess I do need to go a good deed for once. He squared his shoulders, and put on his best annoyed face before walking over to her.  
  
He stood almost directly in front of her, and bent down to pick up her hat. Alright, Dave, let's make this believable!! He looked up at her, trying to keep the annoyed look on his face as he found himself staring into a pair of bright blue eyes, only, the pupils seemed off. He shook his head slightly, and focused back on his task.  
  
He thrust the cap out to her, and said, loud enough for people to hear, but not so loud as to make it obvious, "Aw, come on!! I agreed to let you wear that dumb costume on the plane, but you can't just go around, showing it off to everyone!! I don't know why I agreed to this. Probably cuz it's the first big part you've gotten so far. But if you don't stop pulling these kind of stunts, I'm gonna make you take the damn thing off, got me?!" He widened his eyes slightly for a second, as if to stress the fact that he was trying to help.  
  
She nodded, and whispered an apology before reaching out to take the cap from him. He looked away from her eyes and down at her hand, only to notice her nails seemed to be filed down to sharp points. Are those fake, he thought? She took the hat from him and placed it firmly back on her head, smiling slightly at him. He shrugged it off, and turned away from her.  
  
"See you in an hour at the theater. Don't be late this time, okay?" He began to walk away, only to feel a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. He looked down at the hand with the sharp nails, and admitted to himself that those weren't acrylic, like his mom's. They looked too real. He looked back up at her face, and now she was smiling at him. Her sunglasses were back in place, and the crowd was beginning to disperse, but her group had only moved closer to her.  
  
"Thank you," she said, her hand still on his shoulder, "Please, let me repay you in some way." David was surprised. She wanted to repay him?  
  
"It's nothing," he said, and shrugged, hoping she wouldn't beg. But then he watched as her face changed, her mouth pulled into a pout, and he could have sworn he could hear snickering coming from somewhere behind her.  
  
"It's a lot. Please?" Her voice sounded odd, almost like his dog, Max, when he'd try to beg scraps from the table off of him. He couldn't help it. He sighed, and nodded slightly. Her entire face lit up, and she was beaming at him again, pulling him towards her group. "Come on, you can come with us to eat dinner. It's my uncle's birthday, plus we can celebrate your heroism!"  
  
He was shocked at this, but shook himself out of it as he saw his grandma, holding his suitcase and looking for him. "Wait!! I gotta go tell my grandmother!!" His hand was released almost immediately, and he saw the woman nod and cross her arms over her chest, kind of like the man not too far behind her, motioning she'd wait. He ran over to his grandma and apologized, saying one of his buddy's had family out here, and when they had heard he was coming, came to pick him out and take him out to dinner with them. Yes, his buddy was with them. Yes, they would bring him home. No, he wouldn't be out too late.  
  
Finally he made it back to where the woman stood, now with her entire group around her, along with their luggage. Man, how did they intend to fit all these people in a car?? Maybe it's a van. Maybe there's 2 of them. She opened her mouth to speak, but the older man with the long white hair brushed past her, heading towards the exit, his own suitcase in his hand. To David's amazement, everyone else merely picked up their own bags, and followed the man out. Only one person didn't have anything, and that was the other woman, who had black hair, except for a white streak through it. He merely shrugged and followed them, curious as to who, and what, they were.  
  
~~*~~  
  
He grinned and looked down at the camera in his hands. Damn, but he was gonna be famous when he showed these pictures to everyone! He tried not to laugh as he put the lens cap back on, thinking about what he had seen.  
  
When he had been told that the man known only as "Sesshoumaru" was to be arriving today, he had grabbed his camera and high-tailed it to the airport, like any smart photographer would do. Well, any smart photographer who was trying to get a raise at the local newspaper office. But he had never expected something like this!  
  
He could tell those people were related to him, how often do you see people with white hair and odd tattoos? His smile faded a little as he touched his birthmark, but merely shrugged and left the airport when he saw the immaculate businessman leave the building. Then he grinned as he realized what else he could do with those pictures, which would bring in more money than any stupid raise could. Laughing softly, he finally stopped tracing the spider-shaped birthmark to dig out his keys and unlock his car.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Well!! How's that?? Sorry I didn't get to put it up earlier, but like I said, I started college again, and now I got homework to do, too. But hey, I've got all weekend to write, now! I'll try to get chapter 7 up before I go to bed tonight! PLEASE REVIEW!! (pretty please?!) 


	7. Family Reunion

Okay, everyone!! Did ya'll all gang up on me or something?? I didn't get 1 review.... I think I'm gonna cry... Here's Ch. 7 for those of you who still wanna read. I hope to start getting some reviews soon, otherwise I'll just figure you hate it, and I'll have to stop writing it. Please?? Also, they still don't belong to me!!  
  
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Ch 7 A family reunion!  
  
  
  
Kaedo sighed as he followed his uncle, who had recently had to fall back and allow their mother to lead the way, since she knew where the cars were. He had heard Taisho try not to laugh at this, like he had done when Kai begged that human boy to join them. He knew Sesshoumaru heard him, too, because he had glanced back over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised, and Taisho had silenced almost immediately.  
  
That was a close call in there, he thought. Why did that boy help us? I figured we were just gonna make a run for it or something. Taisho had whispered something about saying her ears were "birth defects", but that human had beaten them to it. Plus, he had been able to come up with a semi-believable story, unlike his brother. He glanced back at the guy, who followed them at a distance, as though unsure about everything. I wonder why, he thought sarcastically.  
  
That kid's so nervous. I guess I'll see if I can calm him down. Kaedo slowed his pace, allowing the others to get ahead, only to end up seeing the car their mom had for them. He couldn't help it, he felt his eyes roll up in the back of his head, and guessed that Taisho was probably doing the same. Heaven forbid we draw attention, mom, he thought as he looked at the sleek black limousine stretched out in front of them. Well, if the kid was nervous before, he's probably freaking out now. He looked at the teenager who had finally caught up with them, his eyes wide as he stared at the lengthy vehicle before them.  
  
"WOW! That's probably some rich guy's! I wonder what it's like to ride in one of those!" The boy continued to stare in awe as Kaedo grinned, only to notice Taisho had also slowed, and was now on the guy's other side.  
  
"Yeah," Taisho replied, and Kaedo berated himself for not buying the disposable camera when he recognized the way he was talking. Here it comes, he thought.....  
  
"I guess mom decided to get a smaller one this time."  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kagome raised an eyebrow back at her two younger sons, who were currently trying to either impress the boy, or frighten him. With a sigh, she opened the door and ushered each one into the spacious limo. When the poor human walked up to her, she smiled warmly at him and motioned for him to get in. He seemed hesitant, and really nervous. In fact, she could smell it on him. They would definitely have to make him relax soon, or else the stench would fill up the entire car. Well, she thought as she climbed in, at least I got one that could hold 12 people.  
  
~~*~~  
  
David looked around him, amazed as the woman who had smiled at him climbed in and shut the door. This is SO COOL, he thought. He couldn't wait to tell his buddy Trent when he got back home! That was when the car began to move, and he noticed that everyone was reaching up to take off their hats and sunglasses. He felt his eyes widen and his jaw drop at the sight of dog-ears, golden eyes, and each one of them had sharp nails. Who were these people?!  
  
The girl he had helped out turned to him and smiled. She was actually really pretty, he thought. Even if she's about a year or two older than me. I can still think she's cute, right? Then he focused on her slitted pupils and her fangs, and nearly leapt out of his skin. "I know what you are now! You're vampires!"  
  
At this, everyone started laughing except for the man with the white hair and gold eyes, who merely smiled and shook his head. David had already wrapped his hands around his throat, hoping to keep his blood in his veins, when someone spoke up. He was an older guy, with black hair (and dog-ears, of course), and gold eyes like the other man.  
  
"Calm down. We're not vampires. My name's Juro, by the way." The one called Juro looked at him, grinning, and David slowly began to relax, but made sure to keep his hands exactly where they were. This only made them laugh again, and he jumped when a hand touched his shoulder. He spun around to see the woman with black hair, the white streak contrasting strongly with the dark strands. She had blue eyes, too, like the girl with the dog-ears. He looked up at her head, and noticed she had ears, too!! Oh, man. what'd I get myself into!?!?  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kagome laughed softly at the boy's reaction. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to ask your name." She smiled at him, hoping to get him to relax. The smell of fear was still coming off of him, although it was starting to lessen, much to the delight of the inu-youkai family.  
  
"David," he muttered. Had she still been human, she may have had difficulty hearing him, but after what happened after Kaedo was born, well.... She could hear him just fine. His voice broke through her thoughts as he followed his declaration with an even quieter statement of, "but everyone calls me Dave."  
  
She grinned. "Well, Dave, my name's Kagome. Kagome Higurashi. And that's my little brother, Souta. You've already met Juro, and the girl you helped is his twin, Kai. The two troublemakers who were teasing you about the limo are their younger brothers, Taisho," she pointed at the silver- haired youkai, who smiled innocently back at her, "And Kaedo." Her youngest son nodded slightly. Taisho's innocent look made Kagome curious as to what he was planning, but she had to finish introductions first. All that was left was. Sesshoumaru.  
  
"Um, David?" He looked at her, his eyes still wide as he took in everything. "Promise not to freak out?" At his nod, she sighed and looked in her brother-in-law's direction. "Okay. Um, well.... Ever heard of Sesshoumaru??" He nodded vigorously, almost as if to say, "Who hasn't?"  
  
"Well," She began, looking over at the still form relaxing in the leather seats, "That's him." A flash went off, and she now knew why Taisho had been acting all angelic. He had brought that damned Polaroid camera again! She groaned as she listened to her kids laugh, accompanied by Souta. Even Sesshoumaru himself seemed to be amused.  
  
"THAT'S SESSHOUMARU?!" David yelled, hurting all the sensitive ears in the car. Souta winced as he imagined his family's pain, and motioned to get David's attention.  
  
"Dave, um, try not to yell, okay? They have really sensitive ears." Souta leaned against his niece, beginning to get into his habit of petting her tail. Unfortunately, David noticed this, and began to look nervous again.  
  
"Um, how do you all know each other, anyways?" Souta grinned. How could he say this without making the guy pass out from shock? Although Taisho would probably love it, snapping a good couple of pictures. He merely grinned at the only other human in the car, and decided it would best to be blunt.  
  
"Well, Sesshoumaru's brother, Inuyasha, is married to Kagome, and these four," he motioned to his niece and nephews, "are their kids." David's jaw fell again, and his eyes grew wide. Souta saw Taisho snap another picture as the human's mouth began to open and close, trying to force words out.  
  
"B.But. How???"  
  
Taisho finally decided he'd been too quiet, and decided to answer for them. "We're demons, that's how!" He raised the camera back up to his face to get a good photo right as Dave's eyes rolled up and he passed out, missing the sound of their Uncle Sesshoumaru actually chuckle.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Wow!! Okay, 12:30 in the morning again, so I'm hoping this chapter didn't come out too bad! Trust me, Dave's gonna be a bit of a help here and there. Oh, and someone asked if Rin was alive in this. Sadly, no. If we turned everyone we cared about into demons merely to keep them from dying, and then they turned everyone they cared about into demons, and it kept going on and on and on, soon the world would be full of demons, and then where would we be? Oops! Gotten off track!! Good night, everyone!! I hope to see some reviews soon, otherwise I might just put this on hold and re- write these last two chapters!! Come on, people!!!! 


	8. Kagome's Story

WOW! I got a couple of emails, and a few reviews! This morning, I get up, and see that I had gotten 1 email. I was kinda down until I read it. Then I felt so much better! I mean, how often do you wake up to see huge words across the screen saying, "I love your story so much!" And so, I promised to put this chapter up before I went to bed. Then two of my 3 best friends came over, and we all just sat around, watching Inuyasha. So, now it's 8 PM, and I'm just getting started! Well, enough of me, on to the story!! (And I STILL don't own them!)  
  
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Ch 8 Kagome's Story  
  
  
  
"Ayasuke!" Almost every head in the office turned to where the newspaper editor, Mr. Daniels, was fuming about the lack of photographers. Or, one photographer in particular. Ayasuke was a young man who had just been hired, but was apparently also about to be fired. Not that anyone in the office cared. He wasn't liked by many, if at all. He had long black hair, which he tended to tie back, and the weirdest eyes. He was kind of pale, and most people got the chills just by standing near him. The oddest thing about him, though, was that birthmark. It was in the shape of a spider, and was on the inside of his right arm. Very few people had actually seen it, and that was when he had had to go take pictures down at the beach, and so had to wear a short-sleeved shirt.  
  
Mr. Daniels was currently scanning the room, trying to decide if he should be pissed or glad that that freak was missing. He finally shrugged, and decided just to go ahead and fire him. He spun around, only to come face-to-face with the man with the soft voice and odd eyes. "You called?"  
  
"Ayasuke, where the hell have you been?!"  
  
"Well, sir, when I heard that Sesshoumaru himself was coming to the States, I felt as though I should be there to take pictures of his arrival." Ayasuke smiled slightly, knowing that his fool of a boss would do anything to beat out his competitors. Maybe, just maybe, he could get that raise, AND a little extra from Sesshoumaru himself to keep quiet about the girl's... condition. He didn't care what some brat said, that was no costume. No costume had moving ears! He grinned evilly as he considered his plan, not noticing the now ashen-faced editor who quickly moved away.  
  
~~*~~  
  
David opened his eyes slowly, expecting to see his grandma's weathered face looking back at him. Instead, he was staring into a pair of green-blue eyes, bright and laughing in a face framed by orange hair. He would have looked normal, if it weren't for those eyes.  
  
The man grinned and looked behind him before yelling out Dave's state of consciousness. Almost immediately, the orange-haired man was surrounded by heads with black and white hair, most bearing dog-ears. Finally, a woman's voice broke through the group, declaring that everyone would either back up, or she would force them out of the way herself. At this, the number of faces in his line of vision dwindled down to three. The two women from earlier, and the guy who had been watching him wake up. He looked back and forth between the faces, noting the slitted pupil in each eye. I guess it wasn't a dream...  
  
The older woman, Kagome, he reminded himself, smiled at him. "Nice to see you awake, Dave. You had us worried there for a minute. Sorry about the crowd around you earlier. The kids were kinda worried, and Inuyasha wanted to meet you, and Shippou here just wasn't able to stop them all." She patted the orange-haired man on the back, who grinned sheepishly. He saw the fangs in the guy's mouth, and everything came back to him, including the kid, Taisho's, comment, about them being demons.  
  
"Y...You... You're... DEMONS?!" He immediately sat up and scooted away from them, holding the blanket he hadn't realized he had up to his chin. He knew he was acting like a kid, but still. Demons?!  
  
Kagome laughed. "Calm down, Dave. Please? Would it make you feel better if I told you I wasn't a full demon? Neither is Inuyasha. We're both half. We're also half-human." Dave raised an eyebrow at this, but felt his body relaxing. Half-human meant that she wouldn't hurt him, right? But...  
  
"How?"  
  
Shippou grinned this time, then reached out and took Kai's hand. He recognized that question, and he knew what was being asked, and what the answer would be. It was an old story to both he and Kai, so he nodded at her to motion for them to leave her mother and new patient alone. Besides, they might as well go join the others and tell them everything was fine, or else they might start to worry again. Mainly Taisho, Kaedo, and Souta, whom he had learned had been picking on the human right before he passed out.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kagome felt more than saw Shippou and Kai leave the room, knowing they were intending to go calm down her family, and let her tell what they felt was her story in peace. She sighed softly, then looked at Dave. He was still looking at her curiously, and after her quick inspection of his eyes and pulse, she began to speak.  
  
"A long time ago, there was a powerful priestess named Midoriko..."  
  
She could smell his fear sliding away as she told him the history behind the Shikon no Tama, and her part in it. Everything. Passing through the Bone-Eater's Well, freeing Inuyasha, meeting Kikyo, fighting Naraku, everything. She told him how she, Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru had all come to the future one day, only to be greeted by her children. The trio hadn't known it, of course, but the kids had become friends almost instantly. She told of the completion of their quest, the destruction of Naraku and Kikyo, her marriage to the hanyou, the wedding of Sango and Miroku, and even the birthing of the twins. After the birth of her youngest son, though, she paused.  
  
David was looking awed at her, and also curious. She smiled. Now for the part so few knew about...  
  
"Remember how I told you when we completed the Shikon No Tama, it went back inside my body? And how that's what we believed helped the kids be full-demon, along with my miko powers?" He nodded, and she took a deep breath and continued. "Well, after a while, I began to feel sad more often, and I noticed Inuyasha was worried more often. I asked him why he was troubled, and I learned he and I were both thinking about the same thing. My short human life. I was sad that I wouldn't get to be with my children and husband, and I was upset that I made my husband worry. Inuyasha was worried about how he was going to handle losing a second love, plus his children losing their mother. Later on, while he was out hunting, and the kids were sleeping, I couldn't help but cry over the whole un- fairness of everything." She sighed.  
  
"By the time I realized the Shikon jewel was reacting, I was already listening to a voice in the back of my head, telling me that in order for my wish to come true, my wish for Inuyasha's and my children's happiness, I would have to become a half-demon like Inuyasha. It asked if that was what I really wanted. I guess I said yes, I'm certain I would, because when I opened my eyes, I looked like this, and Inuyasha was staring at me, saying he had came back and seen me glowing, then there was a flash of light from where the jewel was, and when he could see again, I had already opened my eyes, and was looking up at him with demon eyes. We were both confused, but then it hit me. The jewel was said to be able to grant wishes, and it could be used for good OR evil. The jewel had been used to turn me into a hanyou, like my husband. When I reached down and felt where the jewel had been, it was gone."  
  
~~*~~  
  
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru looked at each other. They had been sitting close enough to the door to hear Kagome's story. Inuyasha remembered that night well. He had told her he was going hunting, and then ran off. He needed the chase more than anything. He needed to take his mind off of the idea that his wife would grow old and die someday, and his children would grow up without her warmth and love that only she could give them. His heart ached and he was fighting off tears. Then he felt it. The Shikon No Tama was calling to him, almost. As though asking him to make a wish. And he remembered what he had whispered to the night, not expecting an answer. "I wish Kagome could be with me forever. I wish that we could grow old and die together, and that she could see her children grow into the people we met at the shrine."  
  
After his wish, he had felt an odd chill, and saw a flash of light. He noticed where it was coming from, and ran as fast as he could back to the village, and into the home that had been built nearby for him and Kagome. She was there, her eyes closed and her head down, but she was glowing with a soft pink light. He took a step towards her, only to be blinded by another flash, and when the world had finally come back into focus, he found himself staring at a different Kagome. One with claws, a white streak in her hair, and two small black dog-ears twitching on top of her head. She looked up at him with her blue eyes, the pupils now slitted, and he heard himself telling her what had happened. He remembered their shock, and finally, their joy at knowing they could be together. For them, and for their children.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Hey there!! I got one review that practically demanded me to explain how Kagome was the way she was, and I figured it would work good here! How'd you like it?? Do you think you could believe that it would be possible for that?? If not, just tell me, and I'll try to re-write it so it's more believable! Sorry it took so long for this one! But hey, I've got nothing to do tomorrow, so I may just put out two or three chapters!! Feel free to review!!!! 


	9. What's an Inuyoukai?

Hey there everyone!! It's me again!! Sorry it took so long to put this up, but a little while ago I had to do the "Flight of the Bumblee." For those who don't know, "Don't you hate it when family calls, 'Oh, we were in town, and thought we'd drop by' 'Oh sure, come on over.' You hang up, and do the Flight of the Bumblebee... 90 miles an hour, fluff 'n' stuff, You're sweating when they get to the door, and the first thing you say is 'Excuse the house, it's a mess, ya'll come on in, house is a mess.' Just tell them the truth! 'Ya'll, this is the cleanest our house has been in 6 YEARS! Don't open the closet, you'll kill yourself!'" -Jeff Foxworthy  
  
Well, here's Ch. 9! Sorry for the delay! And they're still not mine! (Although I FINALLY finished the picture of them! If you want it, either email me at psylock1234@inuyasha.nu, or AIM name: Psylock123  
  
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Ch 9 What's an Inu-Youkai?!  
  
  
  
David sat still, taking in what Kagome had told him. So, she was once a human... but since she loved a, what was it? Hanyou?? Oh yeah, she said it was a half-demon. So since she loved him, she was able to be changed into one? Freaky. Well, my day just got majorly messed up. He sighed and looked back up at the woman in front of him, and finally accepted it.  
  
"Um, Mrs. Kagome?" She laughed at that, and told him to just call her Kagome, and he looked at her curiously. "Well, Kagome, um... Aren't demons supposed to be all evil and everything? You know, demons live in hell with the devil, etc.?" This time, she grinned at him and shook her head.  
  
"Well, the proper term is 'youkai', but there isn't a single word in the whole English language that means the same thing. The closest is the word 'demon'. So you see, actually, the kids and Sesshoumaru are inu- youkai, and Inuyasha and I are hanyous." She stood now, and held out a hand to help him up. He reached up and took her hand, standing up slowly while trying to keep the lurching floor under his feet. Then he thought of something.  
  
"Um, what are inu-youkai?" She grinned at him again, and when she was certain he wasn't dizzy anymore, and could walk by himself, she opened the door to the main part of the lavish hotel room, and invited him to follow her.  
  
"Come on, and I'll show you."  
  
~~*~~  
  
Taisho looked up from his most recent Polaroids, the ones of Dave's face when he passed out, Juro carrying the unconscious boy into the hotel, and especially his reaction when he woke up and saw himself looking up at a group of demons. He smiled as he watched the guy follow his mom out of the room he had been resting in. He still looked kind of wobbly on his feet, but was looking at each of them curiously. When Shippou and Kai had come out earlier, they had said Kagome was filling Dave in on everything. Taisho couldn't help but wish he could have been there to get a picture or two!  
  
"So, um..." The mischievous youkai couldn't help but grin as he walked over to where their mom was setting David down before going to sit next to their father. "They're all inu-youkai?" Taisho felt the grin grow slightly wider as he spoke to the human, no longer feeling guilty for shocking him so badly earlier.  
  
"Nah, not all of us. Me, sis, Juro, and Kaedo are." He felt a glare focused at him. "Oh yeah, and Sesshoumaru." He blushed slightly, but kept talking. "Mom and Dad are half inu-youkai, Shippou over there," he pointed to the smiling man who was standing near Kai, "He's a Kitsune, or a fox- demon. And Souta's a human, like you." He was surprised at how well Dave took this, nodding as he digested this information.  
  
"Okay... So, what's an inu-youkai?" Taisho was glad no one had his camera as he felt himself almost fall over. Oh wait, he thought. He understands the youkai part. It's just that... He laughed and looked at the confused human, grinning from stripe to stripe. He opened his mouth to answer, but Sesshoumaru cut him off.  
  
"A dog-demon. And in our case, very powerful dog demons. You see, Inuyasha and I are both sons of InuTaisho, whom my nephew over there is named after." Another glare aimed at the younger version of Sesshoumaru. "InuTaisho was a very powerful demon, and was the Lord of the Western Lands until he died, and I became the tai-youkai." Sesshoumaru had his arms still crossed over his chest, which all of his brother's children remembered the time it took for his left arm to grow back. His face was in it's usual mask, cold and indifferent, and slightly bored, yet somewhat amused. Every now and then he dropped it around his family, but not very often.  
  
By now, Dave's eyes had grown wide as he took in everything. Taisho began to inch towards his beloved Polaroid, but a glare from his parents stopped him. If the warning in Inuyasha's eyes hadn't been enough, the promise in his mother's was. While his father's warned of pain and a slow death, Kagome's promised embarrassment, torture, and death by humiliation. Loosely translated, the look said, "Do it, and you'll wake up to find your Scooby-Doo boxer shorts hanging outside the window for everyone to see, along with the doll you used to cry for when you were younger and still wet the bed." He shuddered and immediately stood still, looking at Kaedo worried. He thought about looking to Shippou for help, but knew that Shippou wouldn't take on his mother, no matter how much he begged. Kagome was just too good.  
  
"Wow. So what's that thing on your forehead? And why doesn't anyone else have one?" Taisho grinned. He could tell Dave was getting more comfortable if he was actually asking Sesshoumaru about his markings. Before anyone could say anything, though, Taisho heard his father snort.  
  
"That crescent moon is what marks him as Tai-Youkai. That mark declares he is the Lord of the Western Lands." Inuyasha finally spoke up, which had surprised everyone since he had been so quiet. He looked back and forth between the human boy and his half-brother, who were both giving him curious looks. "What?!" he said defensively, "I do know SOME things about you, you know. I'm not completely dumb."  
  
"Oh really, brother dear? You could have fooled me."  
  
A glance at Kaedo reassured Taisho that he wasn't the only one trying not to grin at his father and uncle's age-old practice of taunting each other. Even Juro, who had actually closed his book when Dave had returned, was smiling at the exchange. Kai was grinning, and Shippou took out a pen and a pad of paper, ready to write down anything they said that was new and sounded interesting. Plus, he liked to keep up with points to see who won at the end, which Souta dutifully kept up with any time he had to pause and write a new insult down. Kagome merely sighed and shook her head before asking Dave if he was thirsty. When the human guest's growling stomach answered for him, she motioned for him to follow her, and they went to the kitchen to find something to eat.  
  
Taisho leaned against the wall as he listened closely, silently keeping tally with Souta and Shippou, curious as to who would win this time. Sometimes Sesshoumaru won, and once or twice their father won, but usually he would just get frustrated and go for the Tetsusaiga, which he still carried with him in order to keep from changing into a full demon. A look towards his other uncles told him that Shippou had heard something good, and that Souta was still counting. Taisho glanced longingly at his camera, but as it was too close within range of his mother, gave up on it, and focused on the Lord of the Western Lands, and his younger brother.  
  
"Oh yeah, well at least I never got my left arm cut off!"  
  
"By someone weaker than me, no less..." Taisho raised an eyebrow. Why is he...?  
  
"Yeah! And at least I never actually admitted to getting my arm hacked off by someone weaker than me!" It took a second for it to sink into the hanyou's head and he realized what he had just said. "I mean... DAMMIT!"  
  
  
  
~~~~~  
  
Hehehe. Poor Inuyasha! He walked right into that one. Well, that's it for this chapter! Please feel free to review!! (PLEASE) Oh, and by the way, I'm taking a poll!!! Who is your favorite character, and why??? PLEASE tell me!! I'm not too sure what I'll do for the one with the most votes, but I'll think of something! Oh, and how did you like almost a whole chapter from Taisho's point of view? Bye for now! 


	10. Try to Look Normal!

Okay, I got in trouble for this one taking so long. I'm sorry, people! I was kinda busy! Anyways, so far we're basically at a tie here. Basically dang near everyone's gotten a vote except Kagome (aw.). Scary, huh? Anyways, please keep voting! I can't vote, since I'm the writer, so they'll all attack me in my dreams or something. By the way, STILL NOT MINE! Oh, and if you wanna see a pic I drew of the 4 kids, just email me asking for it! Thanks!  
  
Oh, also, I picked on one of my reviewers, and I think they thought I thought they were being demanding. Nah, I didn't mind it. I like suggestions. It helps!  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Ch 10 Try to Look Normal!  
  
  
  
Sesshoumaru looked over at Inuyasha and Shippou. His younger brother was still fuming over their earlier argument, and how he had been out- smarted. But right now, the last thing on his mind was sibling rivalry. He had come to America for a reason, after all. If he wanted to rile up his half-brother, he could do that at home. Since the kitsune looked at least conversational, he decided that he would hear the fox's side of the story first.  
  
"So, Shippou, tell me again what happened? In detail, this time." He leaned back against the couch, his gaze resting on the man he had seen grow from a cub on his brother's shoulder. It was relatively quiet in the apartment, since Kagome had taken the kids, her brother, and the new human, David, to the mall to relax. Which, to Kagome and Kai, meant shopping.  
  
A clawed hand went through orange hair, and the kitsune sighed. "Well, Sesshoumaru, I was in your form, and I went to the meeting like you asked, with Inuyasha. I walked in, and sat down, just like I was you. When everyone was there, they all turned and looked at me. I raised an eyebrow at them, and then one guy stood up, and asked who I was. I told them I was you, and they slid a picture to me. It was of you, taken only a couple of hours before-hand, and emailed to them. They asked how I could be in two places at once. I just looked at them, and they said that they wanted to talk to the REAL Sesshoumaru, and that if I didn't leave immediately, they'd have security escort me out. Then, idiot-brain here," an indignant snort from Inuyasha, "Made the mistake of asking what's so important that Sesshoumaru's brother couldn't handle it? I grabbed him and ran."  
  
The demon lord nodded. He could believe it. Although, he had to agree with Inuyasha on this one. What was so vital that only Sesshoumaru himself could talk to them about it? He had thought it was a simple company merger. He sighed and shook his head. "Well, I suppose I shall have to ask them myself when I see them next week." Kagome had called to schedule an appointment for him to meet with them again, but no matter how she yelled or what names she called the secretary, the bitch wouldn't let them in any earlier than Tuesday, and Inuyasha only had 11 days until he became human again.  
  
With a glance over at the clock, he realized they'd have to start preparing for Souta's party soon. He felt the corners of his mouth turn up slightly. A party. A party of demons, is more like it. All going to a restaurant. I wonder how that'll look??  
  
He told Shippou to call a restaurant and make reservations for them while he got cleaned up. He really should have known better than to let a kitsune pick out where to eat.  
  
~~*~~  
  
"Come on, Souta!"  
  
The boy being called rolled his eyes heavenward as he followed his sister and niece around, going into stores to look at clothes for whomever came to mind when they saw them. They actually went into every store, including ones selling CD's, ones selling movies, at which point the girls were the ones dragging people out then. Well, not true.  
  
The group had practically flocked to the action section, at which point many of the customers had the sudden urge to try out a new comedy or romance movie. They were all looking at the videos, even David, who had actually become comfortable around the demons.  
  
Now they stood outside a store labeled "Hot Topic". Taisho's eyes had brightened considerably, and David had given a quick cheer before slipping inside. The others had followed curiously, surprised by what they saw. Many of the people in here were odder-looking than Taisho and Kai, even with their silver hair!  
  
Kagome was dragging Souta with her towards the back of the store, where Kai was currently looking at t-shirts with her brothers and David. Some of them were actually kind of funny. The only problem was that the store was really dark, and with their sunglasses on, the demons couldn't see as well. Kaedo pulled his sunglasses down his nose far enough to read the print on the shirt in front of him, only to look up and see one of the employees only a foot away, looking directly at him. Or, to be more precise, at his eyes.  
  
Kaedo hurriedly pushed the shades back in place, then nudged his brother and uncle who were standing nearby. When they looked at him, he pointed a clawed finger discreetly at the curious man who continued to stare. Then they understood. The guy was getting suspicious. Taisho grabbed Dave and Juro's hands, Kaedo had Kagome's, and Souta claimed a death grip on Kai. When the now-caught others looked to see what was up, the employee began to walk towards them. They realized what was going on, and made a speedy bee- line for the exit.  
  
Unfortunately, though, before Kai and Souta could follow suit, the man caught up with them. He looked at Kai, trying to see through her sunglasses, then back to Souta. "Um, sir, may I ask you a question?"  
  
He felt Kai's hand squeeze gently, and he nodded to the goth kid, who looked like he could only be 18 or 19. "Well, um..." Was he nervous?? "I was just wondering... why do your friends wear sunglasses inside? And are those fangs real? And how did your nails grow like that? Is their hair naturally that color, or is it dyed? Are those tattoos, or makeup? How..." The guy hadn't stopped talking after that first question, and Kai had finally interrupted him.  
  
"We wear sunglasses because we feel like it. Fangs are real." She looked down at her claws. "They grew like that." She smiled at the employee now, who was starting to look nervous again, but for a whole new reason. "This is my hair's natural color. And these," She touched her stripes lightly, "I were born with. Now please excuse us, as we have other things to do than sit here and let you gawk at us." With that, she smiled cheerfully at him and walked past him, Souta happily keeping up. He couldn't help the grin spreading across his face. He had a new story to tell Sesshoumaru! He's gonna love this one! Kai acted just like him, with her voice like that! He was still grinning when they joined up with his family and David, who were still waiting for them a few feet away. Since they were all grinning, too, he knew the demons had heard every word, and relayed it to the human.  
  
They continued to shop around, buying clothes to wear for Souta's birthday and David's hero dinner. Kagome had called and talked to Shippou who had informed them not to dress formal, that he had found a place with a good reputation among the younger generations, and was actually a seafood restaurant. They picked up a few more things, which they refused to let Souta see, and then headed back outside to head home, and get ready for dinner. Souta could barely contain his excitement as he tried to figure out exactly where Shippou had gotten them reservations at, but knew better than to ask. Then he remembered. There were only 2 bathrooms in the hotel room they had! He groaned. Well, he thought, there goes any hope for hot water...Unless...  
  
~~~~~  
  
Oh no! I think Souta's spent too much time around Taisho! What's he up to?? I'm scared to find out myself!! Do the math, though. 6 demons (the 4 kids, Sess, and Shippou), 2 hanyous (Inu and Kag), and 1 human (Souta, I'm hoping David's already clean. We may have him bathe anyways, though, considering the poor demon noses...) Well, feel free to review!! 


	11. Preperations are Made!

Hey there! Well.. No new votes as of yet towards fav characters. Ouch. Well, the restaurant I picked is one I know Shippou would adore, and I know Dave would enjoy it, because he's actually based on a friend of mine! The place is known for it's crazy stunts, especially for birthdays! Well, here ya go! Enjoy! Oh yeah, and still NOT MINE!  
  
Also, one reviewer asked why they would trust someone they barely knew with such a big secret so soon. Well, um, I guess cuz #1, he helped Kai, #2, he's not afraid or anything of them, #3, we're already told that they're all proud of their youkai heritage, and #4, hehehe. Why would 6 demons and 2 half-demons be afraid of one teenage human? He squeals, he dies, that easy.  
  
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Ch. 11 Preparations Begin!  
  
  
  
David looked around at the grinning demon faces that surrounded him in the car. Normally, this would scare the piss out of him, especially with their eyes and fangs showing, but not anymore. Now, this seemed almost relaxing. They trusted him enough with this big secret, and he trusted them with... well, himself. He was currently listening to the explanation of nicknames, and to the younger demons' protests when Kai refused to be called "The Mighty" or "The Feared". He saw Souta and Kagome snicker, then Souta's face become thoughtful, as though he was trying to work out a problem. He must have figured it out, because his eyes widened and his face brightened. At Dave's curious glance, though, Souta merely grinned, and mouthed "later".  
  
Dave nodded and went back to the other's discussion.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Shippou grinned as he got ready for the horde of people about to come in. He had already told Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha that the dress code for dinner was casual, but they insisted on wearing slacks and button-up shirts. He shook his head, some of his still-wet hair clinging to his neck and cheeks. He buttoned his jeans and zipped them up, then decided it would be best to dry his hair before putting on his own shirt. That way, his shirt would be dry, and he wouldn't have to worry about being locked out of the bathroom for hours on end. He flicked his tail a few times as he made his way to the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror.  
  
A grinning face framed in orange hair looked back at him, the aquamarine eyes bright with laughter and anticipation. He had developed a lot in the years since he had first met Kagome and Inuyasha, he thought as he looked at his bare chest. For some odd reason, demons never seemed to grow hair on their chests. At least, none he knew. He smiled and picked up the hair dryer, turning it on full-force and quickly drying his long hair, combing out the tangles. Once he was finished with that, he hurriedly began on his tail, only to hear the front door opening, and the voices of 7 people come bounding into the hotel room. He groaned softly, knowing any second he would be forcefully removed from the bathroom, and his tail would just have to finish drying by itself.  
  
He heard a soft laugh, and looked up to see Kai looking at him, smiling. She shook her head slowly, still grinning at him as he gave her a pathetic look which begged for five more minutes. She moved to walk towards him, probably to remove the dryer from his hand, and him from the bathroom, but at that moment, Souta ran towards her, calling out her name. She looked at him, and after a few questions, she looked at him and shrugged, then turned and walked back the direction Souta came. The moment she was far enough away, Souta ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind him.  
  
Shippou raised an eyebrow at the boy's actions, only to be rewarded by a lopsided grin, and a hurried request to leave. Before the poor kitsune could think about what had happened, he found himself standing outside the bathroom door, listening to the shower running. He shook his head again, and walked back to the room where his things were, only to realize his tail wasn't fully dry. He groaned.  
  
Great. Now it's going to curl!  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kai looked at her father curiously. "Are you sure you didn't ask for me, dad?" Inuyasha looked up from buttoning his shirt, trying to be careful and not slice the buttons off with his claws, and nodded.  
  
"Yes, Kai, I'm sure. Why do you ask?" As he began to resume buttoning his shirt, his attention wavered and his claw cut through the threads holding the button to the fabric. He began to mutter curses to each and every button-maker in the world, and then at the idiot of a man who invented buttons to begin with. Kai tried not to laugh as she picked up one of the shirts he had tossed aside, the dark red color reminiscent of the old days, when he still wore his fire-rat armor.  
  
"Souta told me you were calling for me. He caught me right as I was about to...take... a shower..." She had finally realized what was up. She did laugh, now. Her father, of course, thought she was laughing at him while he was trying to unbutton each and every one of those damned buttons again, and glared in her direction. She smiled at his scowl, and said, "I think he's finally picking up Taisho's and Shippou's bad habits. That little con artist tricked me out of the bathroom! Oh well." She shrugged and went to turn away, only to remember the shirt in her hands. "Oh. Almost forgot. Here you go, dad. This one looks better on you, anyways." She smiled at him before leaving the room, walking into what she could consider the "waiting room", with the amount of people sitting either on the couch or at the table.  
  
Sesshoumaru was fully dressed in black slacks, and a charcoal gray silk button-up, and Kagome had claimed the other shower, knowing no one would argue with her. Everyone else, except for the con artist himself and Shippou, were talking about the events at the mall, filling her Uncle in on everything. She thought about Shippou's feeble attempt to plead for time as he tried to finish drying out his tail. She smiled again, recalling that when she had left, there were still damp places here and there. She knew where the kitsune was, in that case.  
  
She walked past the storytellers, and made her way to the back bedroom, where rustling could be heard, along with a muttered curse followed by a quiet laugh. She grinned and knocked on the closed door. "And what is so funny in there, might I ask?"  
  
The door opened to reveal a fully-dressed Shippou, who was wearing darker blue jeans, and a black t-shirt with the word "hentai" on it. She rolled her eyes at the sight of the green letters, and poked him in the chest lightly. "And why are you wearing that shirt?"  
  
Shippou blushed slightly and grinned at her. "Well, it's not like anyone but you guys understand what it says. That, and where we're going, it'll be considered normal. I told the other two that it was casual, but did they listen? No..." He turned to pick up his shoes, and Kai noticed his still-damp tail, which was starting to become curly.  
  
"Uh, Shippou, you did know I brought an extra hair-dryer, in case I was shoved out first, right?" He turned and looked at her curiously, raising an eyebrow at her. She smiled. "And yes, you can use it. In fact, I'll help you, while that little brat of an uncle of mine takes his precious time in the shower." She walked past him and rummaged in her pack till she found what she was looking for, then searched for an outlet to plug it into. When he stood before her, his back to the demoness who now held a brush in one hand, and a dryer in the other, she asked him the question she had been wondering about since Shippou had called earlier and said "casual."  
  
"By the way, what's the name of the restaurant we're going to?" She looked down at his tail, and was about to turn the dryer on when she heard his reply.  
  
"A place called Joe's Crab Shack."  
  
She raised an eyebrow, but went on with her job of drying out the fox's tail. Joe's Crab Shack, huh? I wonder what it'll be like.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Juro heard his sister drying out Shippou's tail, and noticed the looks on his younger sibling's faces. He knew that look... He glanced back towards the room, and realized they were gazing at the bathroom where Souta had disappeared to only about 10 minutes ago. Then it hit him. They were going to race. He tried not to grin as he saw his father walk out of his room, finally getting the last button on his red silk shirt through the right hole, and notice his younger sons' object of attention. He spared a glance at Juro, and smiled slightly before moving slightly towards the two demons who were so focused on the bathroom door, they never noticed the hanyou behind them.  
  
Juro heard the shower water stop, and Souta's sigh of relaxation as he climbed out. The family sitting in the main room tensed, the only movement coming from Sesshoumaru, who was drinking tea while watching the developing situation, and Dave, who was glancing between the boys and the door, then to their father. Likewise, the only other sound was the electronic whirring of the dryer Kai was using on Shippou's tail. They heard a faint shuffle from the bathroom, and all attention focused on the two younger demons who were determined to be the first to the soon-to-be-vacant bathroom.  
  
The moment the door opened, the two took off like rockets. That is, until Inuyasha's firm grip on each boy's hair made them come to a crashing stop, Inuyasha being pulled on top of them. Juro laughed at the sight, only to see a flash, and a deep chuckle coming from the table. A glance in that direction showed the mighty Lord Sesshoumaru holding the Polaroid camera and smiling slightly.  
  
As he pulled the developing photo from the camera and waved it slowly back and forth, he looked over to the shocked human sitting near him. "David, you can go shower now. Don't worry about those two. But you'd better hurry." Dave nodded and leapt up, tearing for the bathroom, where Souta was standing by the door, doubled over and laughing hysterically at the sight before him. David slipped past the other human and closed the door softly, hearing Sesshoumaru's voice right before the door clicked shut.  
  
The usually powerful voice was covered in feigned innocence as it was directed to the scowling demons and hanyou on the floor.  
  
"What????"  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Well, there ya go! It's about time Sess got to have some fun, huh?!? Okay, and yes, I'm sending them to Joe's Crab Shack. For anyone that doesn't know what it is, it's probably the coolest restaurant ever! Only downside, if it's your birthday, expect to be BEYOND embarrassed! I've seen the employees make a girl ride a stick horse around the place, and I had to sing Happy Birthday to my buddy Trent (sound familiar?) with my mouth full of crackers, while he did the same to me. (he was born a day and a year after me!) Well, review!! And feel free to tell me what you think Souta should have to do!! 


	12. Happy Birthday! Part One

Sorry it took so long!! I know, I know, this was supposed to have been put up last night! Again, I'm sorry!! I had missed a lot, and was trying to catch up!! I finally got in bed around 2:30 AM, and even then I still wasn't finished. I figured you'd rather have me write a good, slightly late chapter instead of a bad, on-time chapter. Well, here ya go!! Oh yeah, and still NOT MINE!  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Ch. 12 Happy Birthday to You! Part 1: The Flashback, Kai's training  
  
  
  
Souta sighed in relief as the car came to a stop in front of a brightly-lit restaurant. He saw Sesshoumaru glance in Shippou's direction, one eyebrow raised in question. Souta had to agree with his brother-in- law. What kind of place was this? It looked, well, COOL!  
  
The group made their way up to the doors, which Kaedo volunteered to hold open, and found themselves in a large room filled with funky island items, a fake shark, surfboards, loads of pictures, and bright, multi- colored Christmas tree lights. He watched as everyone's eyes widened except David's. He had the feeling his eyes were just as wide, and that his jaw had long ago joined his family's on the floor. Even Sesshoumaru seemed surprised by this place.  
  
When a waitress arrived in front of them, Shippou stepped forward, his illusion-magic making his tail, pointed ears, and slitted eyes invisible. He told the woman he had called for reservations for "Higurashi". Souta had to smile at this. Not because it was his last name, but because the waitress was staring at Shippou almost dreamily. The young human boy rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, much to the amusement of everyone nearby. The woman blushed and asked for them to follow her to their seats, seeming to stay closer to Shippou. After they were seated, she continued to glance at the kitsune, who seemed not to notice as he joked with Taisho, who had sat next to him. She stole one more look as she declared their waitress would be there soon, before turning away and walking off.  
  
The moment she was gone, everyone broke into gales of laughter (except Sesshoumaru, who merely grinned slightly, and Shippou, who was blushing and trying not to smile).  
  
"Hey, I think she likes you, fox-breath!" Inuyasha, as always was the first to taunt.  
  
"Hey Shippou, why don't you ask for her number?" With Taisho a close second.  
  
"You DO know that she was practically drooling over you, right? In fact, I think I stepped in it..." And Kai added in her two-cents....  
  
"I think Miroku would be jealous of you, right now, Shippou." Juro, while not hilarious, was still able to cause a smile, and a blushing kitsune's face to redden more.  
  
"She was staring at you like she was planning on making out with you. In fact, she's STILL staring at you!" At Kaedo's comment, every head turned to look in the direction he indicated, only to notice a certain waitress caught off guard, blushing darkly and hurrying back to the front doors to seat the next people.  
  
Kagome laughed. "Well, Shippou, it's your own fault. We're just gonna have to find a way to keep the women off of you!" She smiled at him, causing him to blush more, before she brushed an invisible speck of dirt off of her skirt. Both she and Kai had worn them, although they knew Kai wasn't too happy about it. She preferred jeans any day, but she had wanted to look nice for her uncle's birthday, and for her new friend's celebration.  
  
That, and she had wanted to make her mother stop giving her the look she herself so often employed to get her way.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Sesshoumaru smirked as he watched the kitsune, his face steadily growing redder as his friends teased him. Only he and David, in fact, were not torturing the fox for the women's attentions. He looked over at Kai, his powerful niece, who was currently leaning back in her seat, holding her sides as she laughed with her family. Apparently, she had not noticed all the men who had been gazing at her adoringly. In fact....  
  
He thought about how she nor her brothers ever noticed the attention they received unless it was due to their odd looks. Although, currently, the looks were of pure admiration. It irked him slightly, knowing how rude it was to stare. Her brothers occasionally were flirted with, whenever Kai wasn't around, it seemed. Did she know about it, or did she simply not care?  
  
She seemed to feel his eyes on her face for she stopped laughing long enough to look at him and flash him a huge grin, making her seem more like her younger brother, Taisho, than he would have thought possible. Then he watched as her eyes flickered around her, taking in everything. Her eyes went to curiosity, to confusion, then to annoyance. She muttered softly, so that only demon ears, more precisely, dog-demon ears, could hear her, as she reached up and double-checked her bandanna. "Don't they know it's not polite to stare?"  
  
Now he smiled at her, a small smile that he only bestowed upon her to appease her. She noticed it, and smiled back at him, her eyes lighting up happily as she began to focus back onto Shippou's teasing, which had begun to lessen.  
  
He still remembered the first time he had done that. Smiled to calm her down. She had only been a pup, and her youngest brother only a couple of years old. The boys had been at the stage were girls were considered unfit to be seen around men, and so they had left her alone. She had been angry, upset, hurt, and confused. Her mother was busy being trained to use her new abilities by her father, and so, she had had no one to go to. Even Shippou had not been available, he had been helping out the older miko who had delivered the four demons.  
  
And so, the 5-year-old Kai had run for all she was worth, trying not to cry. Eventually, though, she sat and began to bawl her eyes out, wiping her face on her blue kimono. She had been so upset; she hadn't even noticed him until he was standing directly in front of her, less than a meter away.  
  
~~*~~Flashback~~*~~  
  
Kai kept sniffling as she took in the white clothes, her watering eyes making the person look blurry. She wiped her eyes with her kimono sleeve, and glanced up at the figure again. He kind of reminded her of her daddy, with his silver hair and golden eyes. Only, daddy's eyes were a little darker. She began to wonder who he was, only to be surprised when he spoke to her.  
  
"Kai. Stop crying."  
  
She was surprised to hear him call her by name, but even more so by his statement, and how he had said it. She hiccupped a couple of times, and cut off the flow of tears. He was still standing there, waiting patiently for her to finish. When her bright blue eyes looked up at him, she noticed the stripes like Taisho's. Is he our Uncle Sess-show-ma-do that I heard mommy and daddy talking about that one time?  
  
He looked down at her, as though trying to figure something out, then narrowed his eyes at her. She began to get nervous, since she didn't know who this man was, and if it was her uncle or not.  
  
"Why are you crying? You're not hurt, there's no injury anywhere on your body."  
  
She tried not to cry again as she told him about what the others had done, her hands fisting in her kimono sleeves, careful not to cut the fabric with her sharp claws.  
  
"Juro told me to go away. He said I was a girl, and girls are gross. Him and Taisho and Kaedo left me alone. And I don't have no one to play with, 'cause no one wants to play with me. I tried to play with the other kids in the village, but they said I couldn't. They said I would hurt someone." Choking back a sob, she repeated her words to the village children's mothers. "But I wouldn't hurt them!" She felt the tears flowing down her cheeks again, and wiped them off quickly before the tall man saw them. "I even promised! They didn't believe me."  
  
She felt the man come closer, and squeezed her eyes shut, afraid of what he'd do. Then she felt an arm wrap around her waist and lift her up, holding her against his chest and shoulder. She turned to look at him, surprise causing her eyes to fly open. No one had ever picked her up like that. When mommy or daddy picked her up, it was usually by putting their hands under her arms and lifting her, then moving one arm under her rear so she could sit there.  
  
But this strange man was holding her with one arm, and she looked for his other, seeing his left sleeve, but no left hand from under it. She was about to open her mouth and ask about it, but he cut her off.  
  
"They are right. You would have ended up hurting someone, no matter how much you tried not to." She turned and looked at him curiously, all questions forgotten. Then she noticed something else, and her attention was divided yet again. He has a tail, like me! She felt her own tail twitch, and tried to bring it up to her shoulder like the man had his. He noticed this, but continued to speak in order to distract her.  
  
"If you wish, I will teach you when your brothers refuse to play with you." She looked up at his face, and she knew that she was scowling at him by the slightly upturned corners of his mouth.  
  
"But, Mommy already teaches me things. She teaches me how to read and write. And Daddy teaches me how to run fast, and to jump high, and to become stronger. He says it's 'cause I need to learn to fight."  
  
She continued to pout, hating the idea of having a third teacher! She was only 5! But, it would be neat to be able to boast that she knew something her brother's didn't. Once this thought struck her, the child looked up, only to find herself looking into a smiling face. Not just the corners upturned, but the whole mouth was curved into a smile, and his eyes were warm and amused at the same time. He nodded to her.  
  
"Very well. And you need to learn those. But you need to learn more, as well. But, we can always merely... play." Now her ears perked up, shifting forward to hear him better. This tall man would play with her? She smiled up at him happily, and hugged as much of him as she could, while nodding.  
  
"Okay."  
  
The moment she had said this, he kneeled and placed her back down on the ground. While she watched, he walked over to a nearby tree and reached up, pulling off a branch a little longer than she was tall, and about as wide as her wrist. He moved to sit on a nearby rock, and held out the branch to her. She walked over, and clasped it in her tiny hands.  
  
"Hold the larger end down, touching the ground." She did as he asked, and he used his claws to cut the branch to be shorter than her by a few inches. He then used his claws to peel the bark, and whittle the wood down to a wooden staff, thick enough to make her support it, but also thin enough to be easily maneuverable. While he did this, he told her about dog- demon traditions, history, and beliefs. He taught her about manners and honor. When her staff was ready, he taught her how to hold it, and some basic fighting moves to perform.  
  
They stayed there until the sun had begun to set, and then she realized her mommy and daddy might be worrying about her, and that she was lost. She told the tall man so, and he lifted her up as he had before. They rose into the sky, and she got to fly for the first time ever. She had begun to question him about it, and he had hushed her with a promise to teach her his trick.  
  
When they came in sight of the well near her mommy's village, the man landed and put her down. He began to walk off, and she held her staff close to her body. When he was a few meters away, he turned and told her that he would return as often as possible to train her, and for her to head towards the setting sun anytime she needed his help. At her nod, he turned and walked away. When he was at the edge of the clearing, about to disappear into the woods, she called out to him. When he had turned his head slightly to show he was listening, she asked the question that had been on her mind a lot.  
  
"What's your name?" He had hesitated for a few seconds, then answered.  
  
"Call me Sesshou. And never tell anyone about me, or your lessons and playtime with me." She had nodded vigorously again, although she hadn't understood why she couldn't.  
  
"I promise."  
  
~~*~~ Back to the Present~~*~~  
  
He was startled out of his memories by the waiter, who was asking for his order. He glanced at the menu quickly before picking something, and answering the nervous man. Sesshoumaru hadn't realized just how nervous the waiter really was, or why, until he turned to Kai, who was seated next to Kagome, both of them only looking about a decade apart.  
  
After mumbling required answers, he nearly ran to the kitchen to deliver the order slip.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Jonathan passed the order on to the cook, and lifted up his tray with food on it for another table. As he made his way to deliver the chow to the group of giggling girls, his thoughts went back to the woman with the silvery-white hair. It had only been her and one other woman at that table. And the other woman seemed to be a little older. But while the beauty had white hair, she appeared to be only about 20-25 years old. But then, there were a few people there who looked young, but had white hair. Must be an inherited-gene thing. I wonder if she's single, or if one of those guys was her boyfriend?  
  
He shook the thought out of his head as he came to his new customer, who had just sat down, his camera resting on the table. It wasn't too surprising, since a lot of people brought cameras, but what was surprising was the man himself, and the vibes he gave off. He had long black hair, and narrow eyes. He was really pale, and seemed to be grinning madly to himself. Jonathan had to actually concentrate on not staring at the man as he took down his order before racing back to the kitchens to deliver yet another order slip.  
  
Man, I can already tell tonight's gonna be a long night...  
  
~~~~~  
  
Hey!! How bout that!! I wrote you guys a nice LONG chapter! And don't worry, you'll be seeing more flashbacks of the kids when they were, well, kids, soon! And I wonder who the guy with the camera is?? Hm.. Please review!! It makes my day SO much better! 


	13. Happy Birthday! Part Two

Hey guys!! Um.... I got some news. My dad was threatening me today. For some reason, he thinks I spend too much time on the computer. He is now threatening to limit the amount of time spent online. I know, don't sound that bad, right? Well, it is if you're trying to read about a hundred stories, and still write 2 of your own! Ouch, huh?? He's threatening me with about 3 hours a day. SAVE ME!!!  
  
Well, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it, and they're still NOT MINE!  
  
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Ch 13 Happy Birthday! Part 2!  
  
  
  
David couldn't help but grin as he watched the family he had come to be comfortable around pick on the man with the orange hair. Shippou? Yeah, that's what Kagome had called him. The only ones he knew really well were Souta, Kaedo, Taisho, Kagome, and Kai. Juro was kind of quiet, so he didn't talk to him much. Of course, Kai was quiet, too, but since he had helped her out, he felt like he kinda had a friend in her. Also, He had spoken to Sesshoumaru for a few minutes while waiting for everyone to get ready, before Kagome's husband, um... Inu... Yasha?? Yeah! Inuyasha! Came out and pulled that stunt.  
  
And now, here he was at Joe's Crab Shack with a bunch of people who had NO CLUE what was in store for them. He grinned to himself as he thought about what the people would make Souta do. He went through his mind, trying to figure out if there was anything he could hint to the waiter that would REALLY embarrass the other human.  
  
It was weird. Only days ago, hearing that sentence would have made him think he had completely lost it, and was stuck in some episode of the Twilight Zone. But no, here he was with 6 full demons, and 2 half demons. And he felt comfortable around them. And safe!! It was nuts. But, Souta trusts them too... In fact, he said they were teaching him martial arts now. Cool!! Wonder if they'll teach me! I wonder how good they are? Oh yeah, he also said that Taisho was teaching him to play the guitar. Something about everyone in the family having good ears...  
  
Then it hit him, and he knew exactly what to tell the waiter when he came back by. As everyone dug into their food, David merely waited for the moment he knew was going to come any second...  
  
~~*~~  
  
"Attention, Joe's Crab Shack!" Ayasuke looked up in annoyance and disgust at the idiots near him, one holding a microphone, his other hand resting on someone's shoulder. He was about to go back to his paper when he realized exactly whom the person held.  
  
It's one of those kids I saw with Sesshoumaru! I knew it'd be smart to find out where he was staying at. But I still never expected a man like him to come here. I thought this would be too immature. But then, those children must have brought them. He smirked to himself as he raised his camera to his face, zooming in on pairs of golden and sapphire blue eyes. Each one with a slitted pupil. He smiled to himself, and waited until he saw one boy snap a picture of his now-humiliated friend before taking his own picture, hoping someone merely thought that the second flash was merely a reflection. He picked up his paper and began to read again, blocking out the words being said over the speakers.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Souta blushed dark red as their waiter placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to his family and friends, only to see a grin on each one's face, well, except Sesshoumaru. He, as usual, was looking at him, amusement causing the corners of his mouth to lift slightly. Realizing that none of them were going to help him any time soon, he groaned softly, trying not to look at the other people in the area, but feeling all of their eyes one him, just the same.  
  
He wasn't really listening to the man, but his head snapped up the moment he heard them say something about HIM singing! He looked at Kagome and Inuyasha, terrified. He noticed Taisho, Kaedo, David, Shippou, and Inuyasha all laughing, everyone else barely able to contain their own laughter. He scowled at them, only making them laugh harder, and he watched as Shippou patted David on the back. Then he understood.  
  
He sent a glare in Dave's direction, who defiantly grinned back as the waiters and waitresses formed a circle around the birthday boy, telling him he'd have to sing Happy Birthday to himself. Well, he thought to himself. It could always be worse. But wait! Did they want me to sing in English or Japanese?! They never told me!! I guess they're expecting English, since I'm in America.  
  
He took a deep breath, and began to sing softly, wishing that the ground would just open up and swallow him whole. And it could take David, too...  
  
~~*~~  
  
Ayasuke grinned. "Souta," the man had said. Well, he knew a first name. So, what was the brat's relationship with Sesshoumaru, and the other freaks who traveled with them? He decided to think on it as he calmly watched the scene unfold, the laughing family, the blushing, singing teenager, and the way the famous rock-hard block of ice was actually SMILING! He had heard rumors of Sesshoumaru, and not one came without the shiver of nervousness that was contributed to his lack of emotions. So why was he smiling?  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kagome smiled as her younger brother finished singing Happy Birthday in English. She and everyone else began to clap as the embarrassed boy made his way back to their table, stopping only for a second to hit David in the back of the head. Apparently, it had been the human's idea. She felt her smile grow wider as she thought. So, he has finally become comfortable with us. I'm glad. Souta needs a human friend.  
  
She was still thinking on their new human companion when she felt it. It was like a cold finger being drawn down her spine. She shivered slightly. They were being watched.  
  
Inuyasha must have noticed her shiver, because he held her closer, and she felt herself become slightly warmer. Sometimes she forgot that demon's body temperature tended to be a little higher than normal, but it was great when the weather turned cold. Or when you needed that extra bit of warmth to remind you that you weren't alone. She looked up into his golden eyes, and when she saw his expression become worried, she knew he could tell she had felt something.  
  
Softly, so that only a dog-demon could hear, she whispered that they needed to finish eating and leave. Someone was watching them, and she didn't know who, or why. There was a barely perceptible nod among the demons, and she couldn't help but laugh as Inuyasha went back to his old way of eating, like he had done with every bowl of Ramen that had ever come in his vicinity.  
  
~~*~~  
  
David didn't understand why the others began to eat slightly faster, but once his eyes landed on the guy called Inuyasha, he felt his jaw fall, and was certain that whatever had been on his plate, was now firmly implanted into his chin.  
  
Inuyasha didn't just eat his food. He INHALED it. The man was a living vacuum.  
  
Oddly, none of the others thought this was a big surprise. Even Souta, who was a human like him. Kagome was laughing, Sesshoumaru was just giving him this amused look, and the kids and Shippou were too busy eating to pay attention. Is this what all demons are like? He thought curiously. Another glance at Inuyasha made his eyes widen even more. He's almost done!! Damn, he's fast!  
  
He hurriedly began to shovel his own food into his mouth, not wanting to be left behind in case they were planning on doing something.  
  
~~*~~  
  
30 Minutes Later...  
  
Dave groaned. He had eaten too much, too fast. But the others were all sitting in the limo with him now, and he was waiting to see if anyone offered a reason. When he noticed Kagome's pensive expression, he looked over to the one person who would actually understand him. Souta.  
  
The other human looked at him and nodded. He understood something was wrong. Before David could even blink, Souta had already asked the question on everyone's mind.  
  
"Kagome, what happened?"  
  
David hadn't been expecting this. After all, it had been all the demons, and Inuyasha had been the main speed-eater, followed closely by Shippou and Taisho. A glance at the former human, though, told him that Souta had been right. She looked nervous.  
  
"Guys, I'm sorry I made you all rush. Like I said in there, it felt like someone was watching us. I don't know... It just felt like someone was studying us, taking down everything we do. I think the stress is finally getting to me." David watched in amazement as Inuyasha showed his first real sign of affection that night, wrapping an arm around his wife and holding her close. Dave glanced away, only to notice Kai's odd response. Her eyes were wide, and she seemed frozen in her seat.  
  
After a moment or two, she whispered something so quietly he couldn't hear it. But everyone else's eyes grew wide. Even Souta, who was sitting next to the demoness, was in shock. Dave felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned, only to find himself looking into a pair of golden eyes, in a face framed by black hair. Juro had usually kept quiet, but now he looked at the human with something close to worry.  
  
"Dave, we have to take you home now. I don't know if it's safe for you to stay with us right now. We think we may have been caught. Kai says that the person Kagome felt tonight at the restaurant, well... she had felt it, too, and it felt like something she had sensed earlier in the airport. We don't know who it is, but they may come after us." The teenage human thought about this for a second, then came to his own conclusion.  
  
"But, if they saw me with you guys, they might come after me, too, thinking I'll tell them where you are." He noticed that everyone was looking at him, now, mostly with surprise.  
  
"You're right, you know." David couldn't help but look at Kaedo with interest.  
  
"We can't leave you alone. You have to stay with us now, simply so we can protect you. But you have to tell your grandmother."  
  
David sighed and leaned against the leather seat. Well, so much for a normal trip to grandma's. He felt a small smile tugging at his lips, and he grinned. Nope, the next two weeks were going to be anything but normal.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Sorry that took so long to get out!! I just have been kinda busy lately. Hopefully none of you hate me!! Also, sorry this chapter was kinda slow, but hey... I may make up for it later! I'll try, at least!! Feel free to review! 


	14. Wakey Wakey!

Hey everybody! Sorry this took so long to get out!! I've been trying to clean up my computer some, and I'm STILL not done! But, I hope to put out 2 chapters today, in order to make up for yesterday! I love ya all!!! You guys are so nice to me!!!  
  
*ALSO!!!* I got a review from someone named saiyankiyse, and I just wanted to respond to it!! I was asked some questions about the story, and was told to email them. Only one problem. No email address! LOL! So, saiyankiyse, if you read this, (which I hope you do!), email me at psylock1234@inuyasha.nu with all your questions, and I'll be DELIGHTED to answer them! Thanks again!!  
  
Here ya go!! And still not mine!! *mutters* geez... rub it in, why don't ya?  
  
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Ch 14 Wakey Wakey!!!  
  
  
  
The morning sun crept over the horizon, lighting everything in its sight. Well, except in a hotel room, where our favorite demon/hanyou/human group were currently sleeping. Inuyasha and Kagome slept peacefully in one of the rooms, while David slept in the other, smaller, room.  
  
Said human groaned and rolled over, only to come to crashing back to reality as he felt himself teeter on the edge of the bed. His eyes flew open, and he caught himself seconds before he fell. He sighed in relief and rolled back onto the bed. Yawning, he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked around, expecting to see at least one demon in the room with him. But no, they had obviously all stayed in the living room like they had said they were.  
  
I wonder where they ended up sleeping? I mean, I know one could sleep on the couch... In fact, Shippou had already claimed it. Then again, Sesshoumaru REALLY surprised me when he simply sat down on the floor and leaned back against a wall with his eyes closed. I wonder if he actually slept like that? And where did the other guys sleep? I mean, that left Kai, Juro, Taisho, Kaedo, and Souta. There couldn't have been enough room for them...  
  
His curiosity finally getting the better of him, Dave slipped out of bed quietly, still wearing the pajamas Souta had loaned him. They were supposed to try and get his stuff over here today, with only one of them going with him, in order to draw as little attention as possible, while also protecting him. It had finally been agreed that Juro would go with him, since he and Kaedo could look partially normal with their black hair, but Juro was the better fighter.  
  
David winced, hearing again his grandmother's yell when he told her that he needed to stay with them for a while, since they were having problems, and needed his help. She had threatened to tell his mother, so he was kinda scared to call home.  
  
He opened the door slowly, looking around for movement, then tiptoed to the living room. The sight he was met with shocked him.  
  
There, on the ground, was Kai, stretched out and relaxed, being used as a pillow by the four boys. Souta's head rested on her chest, Kaedo was sleeping on her stomach, Taisho was resting against her lower thighs, and Juro had a pillow resting on her calves to rest his head on. And then, over all four guys, her white tail was being held close, as though for comfort. Shippou still slept on the couch, although his tail was hanging over the edge; and Sesshoumaru was still leaning against the wall, his tail, like Kai's, stretched out.  
  
He continued to stare at them, watching them curiously, then noticed that some of Kai's hair had fallen in front of her face. He smiled, and, on a whim, reached out to move it away. He watched as a light blue sheen seemed to come over the sleeping demons, but he didn't stop his hand. He took a small step forward, making sure to keep his balance, as he reached out to push the strands away. His hand was about to touch her skin, when...  
  
His wrist was grabbed.  
  
Surprised, he looked down at the other person's hand, noticing they had no claws. Must be Souta, then. Looking over at his friend's face, he was shocked to see fear. The other human shook his head, then looked up at the demoness' sleeping face.  
  
His head still resting on her chest, he let go of Dave's hand, and reached up to tap Kai's forehead. He remembered how that always seemed to wake up any of the four siblings, and watched her eyes. They flew open, and the blue glow that had been so intense only moments ago disappeared completely. She looked at the hands that still hovered over her face, both human, one familiar, one not-so-familiar. Then it hit her.  
  
David watched as her eyes widened, and she looked up at him nervously. What's she nervous about? He looked back at her and smiled, hoping to reassure her. She sniffed at him a couple of times, something he still wasn't used to, but it seemed to make her relax. She sighed before turning to glance at her uncle, who was now tapping her brother's foreheads in an effort to wake them up. She tried not to laugh as she watched each one's eyes open, fully alert as usual when they were woken like that.  
  
Juro was the last to be woken, and opened his eyes to see his brothers slowly sitting up, looking around the room. Stretching, he also sat up, then noticed where David stood. He was next to Kai's head, and Souta was trying to motion to him to go back to his room so they could whisper without Sesshoumaru or Shippou waking up. Sighing, Dave's new protector stood and walked over his brother's legs to where his uncle was starting to push his fellow human back to the room. Reaching out with one of his claws, he grabbed the back of David's pajamas and lifted him up, wrapping Souta in his tail again as he waltzed back to the unoccupied room.  
  
The two younger demons tried not to laugh as they saw both humans being carried away by their older brother, a look of shock registered on the newer human's face. That's right, Kaedo thought... we never told him what exactly being an inu-youkai means. He knows we're dog-demons, and he now knows that dad's a living vacuum when it comes to food, but he doesn't know about our speed or strength... He glanced at his older, silver-haired brother, and saw the grin coming over his face as he came to the same realization. Hurriedly, before Kai had a chance to grab them, Taisho raced for his Polaroid, and Kaedo headed towards the room the others had disappeared into.  
  
Then Kai's claws were in his pajamas as well, and they were all walking back to the room. Well, Kai was walking. Taisho and Kaedo were being carried, Taisho in her tail like Souta had been. She opened the door to a soft, whispered conversation, and Kaedo heard Juro mention Kai's sleeping- shield.  
  
Taisho smiled and began to squirm, hoping to get out of Kai's tail and get a picture of Dave's face. Actually, now that he looked at it, he wanted a picture of all of them. They were all still in their pajamas, their hair tangled. He pulled the camera up to his face, and quickly snapped a photo of his brother and uncle looking at them in surprise. Almost immediately after the flash went off, though, Taisho found himself without support. Kai had let him go. He was able to catch himself at the last second, causing only a soft thump as he hit the ground.  
  
The elder sister walked over to the humans, and smiled at them apologetically. "Sorry about that," she whispered, "but if I didn't bring them in with me, then they'd have come in by themselves." David nodded in understanding, then asked the question that had been bugging him since Juro had set him down and started to explain they blue light around Kai's sleeping body.  
  
"Um, why are we whispering?"  
  
~~*~~  
  
Sesshoumaru opened his eyes to the sound of laughter. He glanced over at Shippou, who was still sleeping. He stood and walked towards the sound, passing the drowsing kitsune. Pushing open the bedroom door, her saw his niece and nephews sitting with the two humans in a circle, whispering to them. He listened to them as he stepped closer, knowing that he wasn't going unnoticed.  
  
"Well, we were whispering to keep from waking everyone up, but apparently Sesshoumaru's ears are too good for us." He looked down at Juro's smiling face, and nodded to him before sitting down in the spot they had cleared for him, between Kai and Juro. It felt almost odd, but here, with them, he felt comfortable.  
  
Now Kai was grinning, and reached out to tweak Taisho's ear, who was sitting almost directly across from her. "Well, now we just have to worry about Mom, Dad, and Shippou waking up. I mean, I don't know about you, but the last thing I wanna have to face is Mom mad in the morning."  
  
"Yeah, she's scary when she's mad. In the morning??" Taisho shuddered, earning another ear-tweak from his sister, but also one on his other ear from Kaedo. "What is this, everyone-gang-up-on-Taisho day?!" When his family all began to grin at him, and even Sesshoumaru seemed to be smiling slightly, he felt his eyes widen, and decided that now would be the time to run for his life.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Inuyasha muttered darkly as he looked at the baseball caps resting on the table. He and Kagome were to go and pick up some more food, Juro and David were going to go get the human's things from his grandmother's, Kai, Taisho, Kaedo, and Souta were all going to go rent some movies, and grab some pizzas for everyone. After, of course, the argument ended over what toppings were going to be on the pizzas, and which movies were and were not acceptable.  
  
"No gushy romances!"  
  
"Pepperoni and Sausage!"  
  
"Anything except really stupid comedies."  
  
"No onions!" "No olives!" "Funny movies!" "Action movies!"  
  
Finally, he had had enough. His poor ears couldn't handle it! He finally did something he only did when his family argued, and he wanted their attention. He barked at them. Actually, really, BARKED.  
  
Almost immediately, everything was quiet, and everyone was looking at him, expectantly. He sighed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an amused Sesshoumaru and a confused David waiting near the door. Sesshoumaru and Shippou were going to go back to the office building, and see if the Great Demon Lord of the Western Lands' personal presence couldn't move their appointment date up. After all, it was only 10 days until the new moon, and now they knew someone was watching them.  
  
"Okay," Inuyasha started, everyone's eyes still on him. "I think they have an idea on what to get on the pizzas, and what kind of movies to get. So can we please get the hell out of here!?" Everybody smiled at him, glad to see him back to his impatient, rude self. He smirked and grabbed Kagome's arm, who in turn snatched her purse as he pulled her out the door. "Come on, wench, let's see if they have some damn Ramen here..."  
  
Everyone laughed as the parents disappeared from the room, off to find a way to fill their father's bottomless pit, which he called a stomach. Soon, everyone followed suit, off to do their own thing, planning to meet back up in their room afterwards.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Inuyasha and Kagome headed off towards the grocery store, the male hanyou's thoughts focused mostly on his Ramen.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Sesshoumaru and Shippou both relaxed in the leather seats, waiting patiently for the limo to arrive at the place that had threatened to kick the kitsune out. It had already been agreed that Shippou would take on Sesshoumaru's form, that way they couldn't argue that this Sesshoumaru was a fake.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Juro and David raced off towards the house, David getting one of his first promised inu-youkai "lessons". While they had been in their circle, Kaedo and Taisho had pointed out that they had never told him what an inu-youkai was capable of. As a result, they decided to "teach" him. And now, here he was, resting on Juro's back, the black tail wrapped around his body to protect him, as the demon leapt from rooftop to rooftop towards his grandmother's home.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kai groaned as Taisho brought forth yet another cheesy horror movie. They had seen only a few good ones; most horror movies, to them, were so fake it was funny. So it hard to actually pick out a movie they would like. And Kai hated most cheesy horror flicks because they usually had some weak little girl who either dies or just barely survives, and even then, it wasn't like it was really because of her. She usually just got lucky or something. She snorted. She was glad she wasn't a human, raised like that. While she let the boys have the run of the store, she leaned against the wall near the entrance, reminiscing of her training when she was young, never noticing the group of teenage boys who were looking in the window at her with leering smiles.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
There ya go!! Sorry that took so long!!! Well, gotta jet so I can start the next chapter!! COMING UP! FINALLY!! A FIGHT SCENE!!!!! HAHAHAAH!!! Oops. um.. Sorry bout that.. Kinda got carried away... um.. Review!! Bye!  
  
Also!! Saiyankiyse!!! Don't forget to email me with your questions!!!! 


	15. Juro in trouble, Kai in a Fury

Hey there everyone!!! I know, I know, I'm a day late!! But you guys still love me!!!!! Right?!!?!?  
  
I hope so... Here's your next chapter!! Enjoy!!!!  
  
And again, NOT MINE!  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Ch. 15 Juro in trouble, Kai in a fury  
  
  
  
Inuyasha had raced off to the part of the store that the employee said the Ramen was kept, and now was smiling at Kagome over a basket whose bottom was LINED with packages of Ramen. She groaned, rolling her eyes, but couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Yep, her hanyou hadn't changed much in 500 years. Thank goodness I can afford all of this. Sighing, she dug into her purse to find her wallet, and her favorite thing (besides her friends and family), her credit card.  
  
~~*~~  
  
In the business district of the town, two demons sat in a black limo, waiting for the moment when Shippou would have to turn into Sesshoumaru again, and the twin Sesshoumaru's would go to demand an earlier meeting date.  
  
The demon lord himself looked out the window, towards the sky, knowing that Inuyasha's night as a human was coming closer. If it was true that they were being followed, and he didn't doubt Kagome or Kai's word, and they got a picture of the changed hanyou, then it would be pandemonium. They were lucky. Kagome's wasn't for another week after Inuyasha's, and lasted from midnight till noon the next day. All they needed was BOTH hanyous being caught. Especially if that same person was at the airport, and saw Kai's ears.  
  
He relaxed into the plush leather seats while the kitsune slept, and let his mind wander back to the old days, when he had trained the young demoness...  
  
~~*~~  
  
David yelped in surprise as the demon carrying him leapt into the air again, this time performing a perfect somersault in mid-air, then landing perfectly in front of his grandmother's home. The poor, abused, scared-out- of-his-wits, ECSTATIC human grinned from ear to ear.  
  
"That was SO COOL!!! How can you do that?!" He watched the older man with wide eyes, wishing he could jump like the demon could. That would rock. He could go back home, and do that all the way over to Trent's house. Man, that'd really piss him off! He'd be so jealous!! HAHA!  
  
Golden eyes flashed with amusement as Juro watched the boy's gaze become unfocused, knowing that the human was dreaming of gliding like that. He couldn't help it. He grinned at him, baring his fangs.  
  
"I'm a demon, remember??" Leaving the day-dreaming boy on the front sidewalk, he made his way to the door and knocked gently, since his mom always told him to do things "gently" when it came to humans and their homes. It seems that their father hadn't understood that word too well at first. Oh well, the inu-youkai thought as the door opened, if there was someone who could teach him, it'd be mom!  
  
~~*~~  
  
She couldn't stand it anymore. She had to get out of there. Reaching out with one clawed hand, Kai picked up the closest family member to her. Ah, Kaedo. Luck was kind to her today. Smiling, she handed her movie pick and the money to her youngest brother, telling him she needed fresh air before all the smells killed her. The fellow demon nodded in sympathy and took the items from her. He's so sweet.... Then he ran off to find Taisho and finish his argument of which blood-filled video would be the better choice.  
  
Shaking her head, the 500-year-old demoness left the store, walking right past the group of boys who had been drooling over her since they had arrived and glimpsed at her through the window. She didn't care; all she knew were some stupid guys were standing there, smelling of beer and cigarette smoke, along with another sweet stench that she recognized as weed. Great, she thought, stoners. Maybe Luck decided she'd been too nice earlier.  
  
Kai groaned as she realized that she had been correct about Luck having it in for her, watching as the gang formed a circle around her. Dammit, she thought. We're not supposed to draw attention, and here these guys are - WAIT! Is that guy DROOLING?!?!? Ew! Oh, man. NOW I recognize those looks. Trying to block her sense of smell, she looked into each boy's eyes, noting the lust in them. Some for her body, some for her blood, some for her pain, but all were lusting for something.  
  
"Hey there, baby... What's a hot girl like you doing with those losers?" The man she guessed to be their leader, considering he smelt the strongest of the herbal drug, stepped closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tilting his head in the general direction of her brothers.  
  
Now, if there's something Kai didn't like, it was being called "baby", "toots", "doll", or anything else like that. She didn't know why, it just pissed her off. "Bitch", she could handle. She preferred it when her enemies called her this, in fact. Because she could always grin and agree. But no, this.... The now-angry demoness glared at their leader through her sunglasses, trying to restrain the growl that threatened to erupt from her throat, and the claws that wanted to rip and rend this idiot human's flesh.  
  
Then, while Kai called him every dark word she'd ever heard her father utter while also trying to calm herself, he signed his own death warrant. He pressed her against him, grabbing her butt and forcing his lips against hers.  
  
That's it, Kai thought. NOW I'm PISSED...  
  
~~*~~  
  
Juro bowed to the woman who answered the door, noting the woman's cynical glare. Smiling politely, he introduced himself as Juro Higurashi (they had all agreed to use their mother's name when last names were required), a friend of David's, who had brought him to pick up his clothes.  
  
The moment the words were out of his mouth, however, the old woman's glare turned to anger, and she looked behind him at his human companion. Then, in a way that made the poor dog-demon cringe and wish for his ears to be freed simply so he could clamp them down with his hands and block out the sound, the grandmother began to screech at her younger relative, dragging him into the house by his ear, declaring she was calling his mother, who was also willing to give the boy a piece of her mind.  
  
As he was being dragged away to the nearest phone, he glanced back at the amused demon standing in his doorway, his sunglasses still in place. Nice to see SOMEONE thinks this is funny, he thought darkly, before pointing to the back of the house, where he knew his bag would be, and glaring at him. The grin on the youkai's face merely grew as he bowed his head slightly before practically disappearing towards the guest room, reappearing moments later, bag in hand.  
  
David knew his jaw was hanging open, but it didn't truly register in his brain until his grandmother snapped his mouth shut, then handed him the phone where he could already hear his mother's angry yells. Wincing, he took the receiver and placed it up to his ear, reminding himself not to say "demon" once.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Souta sighed. He had his movie picked out already, and Kaedo had handed him Kai's, saying she went to clear her nose. The grin spread across his face as he thought about it, watching the two brothers argue over which two movies to grab. More like, Taisho was trying to convince Kaedo to get a "better" movie. He shook his head and glanced toward the exit, where Kai had left, only to stop and stare.  
  
There were guys in a circle around HIS niece. And one of the bastards was grabbing her butt and kissing her!! He had spent too much time around his demon family to stop the feeling of rage and the curses that flowed through his mind. He even growled, low and soft but so much like a dog-demon's that the two actual demons stopped bickering to gape at him. He didn't even notice their looks, or his clenching fists, or the fact that he had dropped everything and was stomping towards the door. By now, the other two had realized what was going on, and their full-demon growls joined his, more feral and animalistic.  
  
The moment Souta slammed open the door, though, intent on fighting each and every one of those assholes, if need be, he heard it. It was deep and low, but still had that familiar feminine tone to it that let him know EXACTLY where it came from. And sure enough, he could see the red glow shining under her sunglasses.  
  
Uh oh, he thought. NOW it's on.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Sesshoumaru felt that familiar demon energy coming towards him again, and he knew his young niece was ready for another lesson. He walked towards her, catching her scent in the wind, just as he had remembered it from when she was older, and he had seen her skills for the first time. But, there was something wrong this time. There was a salty tinge to it that he recognized from when Rin cried. Tears. His student was crying. Why?  
  
Sure enough, seconds later a small body came flying out towards him, her tail wrapped around her arm like his was. The white hair flew behind her as she leapt up at him, dropping her staff as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Remembering how he had seen Kagome react to cases like this with Rin or her children, he rubbed her back gently, unsure how strong she was at this age, while telling her to "Stop crying."  
  
Finally, the young demoness looked up at him, the tears slowing. She nodded to him and hugged him again before looking around for her missing staff. He set her back down, only to notice the former tree limb when she lifted it in her small claws. It appeared she had used those same claws to carve her name on the wood. She held it out for his approval, and, at his nod, beamed up at him, her tears finally gone. He gave her another small smile, and then changed her grip on the smooth wood, initiating the lesson.  
  
They later took a break to let the child relax, and she told him how her brothers teased her again for being different. They had asked why she needed a cane like an old man, and when she had said it was a staff like their Uncle Miroku's, they had laughed and said girl's don't fight. She had asked about Aunt Sango an their mom, but the boys had shrugged it off with a VERY common saying in their home... "Feh."  
  
He had merely nodded, knowing that one day she would show them exactly what she was learning. Perhaps he should consider picking out her next weapon... He knew once she mastered this one, she would need another challenge. After all, she did have 500 years ahead of her. She needed something to keep her busy.  
  
He had had no clue how right he was about her finally using her lessons.  
  
That very same day, after leaving her at her usual spot, with a promise to come back soon, and a "Goodbye, Sesshou!! Thank you!!!" from her, he had sensed a fast-moving demon headed towards the village. His eyes had widened and he had immediately raced to where he had last seen her, only to watch proudly as she fought off the demon until Inuyasha arrived, already wielding Tetsusaiga.  
  
He had smiled as he watched her, and came to a decision. Her next weapon would be the blade.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Sesshoumaru's eyes flew open. A sense that something was going on crept into his veins, and he looked over at the kitsune, only to find Shippou returning the look. Before he could open his mouth, the fox-demon shook his head. "Nothing's wrong," he stated simply to the tai-youkai, "That's just what happens when Kai gets really mad. You know how your eyes turn red?" A nod from the silver-haired demon. "Well, she also sends out almost like a signal, warning every demon nearby that she is not to be trifled with." He grinned now, leaning back into his seat.  
  
"I can't wait to hear what happened!"  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kai felt her blood boiling as the man squeezed her rear end. NO ONE touched her without her permission!! Growling low, she pulled back her hand, ready to dig her claws into him, but Souta's shout stopped her, and she clenched her fist before sending at the stomach of the offensive man.  
  
He fell back, clutching his now-bruised abdomen and cursing up a blue streak. Somewhere among the swear words was something that could be translated to "Get her!" And she found herself being attacked by 7 people at once, the eighth smirking as he held his injured body. Then, they saw her eyes glowing from beneath the glasses. She knew they were. She smirked right back at them, then gave them a full smile, finally showing her fangs.  
  
Fear was now a strong stench in the air, and Kai reveled in it. She had never been one to delight in the fear of humans, but now... well, exceptions could be made. And so, flashing what her family calls her "battle smile", she decided that a fight was exactly what she needed to help clear her mind.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Well, there ya go!! Hope you enjoy!! You got another flashback of Kai, and now we get to the fight! Review, and G'night!! 


	16. He Started It!

Hey there!! I'm back!!!! I know you all missed me so much!! Hahah!! Anyways, here's your next chapter!! BTW, who else is pissed that Cartoon Network is taking Inuyasha off air for a month??! I mean, I know WHY, and I understand, it's just... I'm gonna miss it!! Okay, enough of my whining!!  
  
And they're still not mine. Although if they were, I might share. Key word: MIGHT  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Ch 16 He started it!!!!  
  
  
  
Inuyasha's eyes widened and he looked over to Kagome. Sure enough, she seemed to have felt the same thing. Kai's warning signal. He knew she was probably struggling to keep a tight control over her power. She hadn't unleashed it all, or else he would have known immediately, as would his mate. But his daughter was mad. No, not just mad, she was royally pissed. He tried to slow the adrenaline pumping through his system and convince his body to relax. I wonder what happened, he thought...  
  
~~*~~  
  
Ayasuke grinned as he held the camera up to his face, snapping another picture of the enraged woman. He had expected a fight, but this was even better!! Her eyes had begun to glow red from under her sunglasses, and her nails had seemed to grow even longer before she had sent her fist into Damon's stomach. He had paid the idiot and his friends to watch the group, but once they had seen the young woman, the drugs that they had bought with their payment had rushed straight to their heads. He didn't care, though. This was better than he had expected!! Now if I could only get her to do something to PROVE she's a freak!  
  
~~*~~  
  
A chill went down Juro's spine, and adrenaline began to course through his body. Kai was fighting. And she was pissed. He sighed, and tried to use the faint connection he had to his twin. He was lucky he had that much, no one else but his mother could get a glimpse of her feelings and thoughts. Concentrating hard, he followed the warning signal back to its source with his mind, connecting to a very enraged demoness' thoughts.  
  
'That bastard!! How DARE he grab me like that?! NOONE touches me without my permission first, dammit!!!!!!!!!!' The feeling of rage became stronger, and Juro had to sever the connection before his own eyes turned red. Then it hit him. What if she became so angry she transformed?!?! They didn't change into their full-demon forms often, but he knew that Kai always sent out a warning signal, followed by a short wave of half of her energy, like she had done that time at Kagome's home before their mother was sealed in the past. After that, she would release all of her energy if she thought it was a true threat. Once all her energy was released, there would be what could be literally called a "dead moment", when the air became still, and silence was everywhere. Then she would change.  
  
His eyes widened. He had to stop her. And NOW. David's mother could still be heard yelling over the phone at the poor human, who was looking nervously at his grandmother. Juro felt his patience snap. They didn't have time for this!! His sister could be in trouble!! He reached out and grabbed the phone out of Dave's hand faster than either human's could blink.  
  
"LISTEN LADY, WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU TO SIT HERE AND YELL AT HIM! He's sorry, okay?!!?" She had become silent the moment he had begun to roar into the receiver. He normally didn't lose his temper, but this was KAI! "He's safe with us, he won't get hurt, and we'll bring him back in once piece, okay!? Now we gotta go! BYE!" With that, he slammed the phone back down on its cradle, not noticing the crushed plastic or the cracked wooden table.  
  
"David, hurry up, we don't have time!!" In front of the grandmother, Juro crouched for the human to climb up onto his back. Once he was settled in, with the black tail holding him securely in place, the demon took off, racing faster than before towards the feeling of rage and youkai energy.  
  
Dave looked down at the guy carrying him, amazed at how fast he could run, but also the fact that they were apparently running in mid-air, damn near flying, and the fact that the calm, patient Juro had yelled at his mom angrily. But the look on the inu-youkai's face kept him from asking. He was worried about something. And so, the teen merely tightened his grip on the man's shirt, and lowered his head to keep the stinging wind out of his eyes.  
  
Somewhere else, though, a cracked wooden table suddenly collapsed, the crushed phone hitting the ground about the same time as the grandmother's jaw.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Taisho watched as his elder sister punched the creep in the stomach. He wanted to cheer her on, but was too busy watching the other members of the gang, ready to warn her in case one of them decided to attack her. When the leader, who was holding his stomach commanded his men to "get her", he snarled viciously, his brother joining in, as well as their Uncle Souta, even though he didn't seem to realize it.  
  
Kai heard her brothers' and uncle's snarls, and turned to meet the group of people attacking her. Most of them were unarmed, but one or two carried knives. She snorted angrily. She was pissed. Completely and totally PISSED. She knew she had already sent out the warning signal, and they had ignored it. She growled deep in her throat and extended her claws. She was ready to simply destroy them with the strong claws, but her uncle yelled again not to kill them. Human, she reminded herself. They're humans. Can't kill them. But I can beat the shit out of 'em!  
  
They leapt at her, only to find that two of them had been taken down already, each hit in the back of the necks by the side of Kai's hand as she flew past them. She spun around before she landed, then dropped into a crouch. The other 5 and their leader were surprised at her speed, but she hadn't shown them anything yet.  
  
The guys seemed to look at each other, and nod, and they began to attack her two at a time. She easily took care of the first two pairs with a few well-placed kicks and punches. That was when she noticed that only the gang leader was left. Where was that last one? Did he run away? Then she smelled him. He was behind her. Growling, her eyes on the boss, she shot her foot backwards into the man's stomach, then used a roundhouse kick to bring him down with a broken jaw.  
  
She landed easily, balancing on the balls of her feet as she watched her prey. His eyes were wide, but then he smirked and reached into his jacket. Kai wanted to kick her own ass when she saw him bring out the pistol. How could I not have smelled that?! She screamed at herself. She wanted to say it was because of their overwhelming stenches, but she was still upset about it.  
  
"Heh, you may be fast, bitch, but let's see you dodge this!" He fired his weapon, and immediately Kai stood stock-still. She was angry enough to want to scare him, first. She wanted his fear to be so thick she could taste it in the air. She got her wish.  
  
Damon watched as the bitch just stood there, a smirk on her face. He had his own smirk, though. He was a great marksman, if he did say so himself. He had been told to not kill her, so he decided to hurt her. Her leg would be perfect. See how fast she can run, now! Ha! Then, maybe, he could still get some pleasure from this lovely whore.  
  
But he wasn't prepared for what he saw. The bullet hit exactly where he aimed. Directly into the soft tissue at her left thigh. His smirk grew as he waited for her to stumble and maybe fall, clutching at her leg and screaming in agony. But she continued to smile. In fact, her smile grew.  
  
With wide eyes, he watched as she reached down and used her long nails to open the wound a little more and dig the bullet out. His jaw fell. Most MEN wouldn't do that, and this bitch just removed a bullet with her f*cking NAILS? He watched as she dropped the bullet on the ground, her grin growing even wider. He looked back to her wound, only to feel his jaw fall. It was CLOSING! She was f*cking healing!!!! What the hell is she?!  
  
Looking back at her face, he was about to ask her when he noticed her now-angry glare directed at the jeans she was wearing, then back up at him. He saw the dull red glow again, and was wondering if she was wounded enough that she wouldn't chase him if he ran. She growled at him, and he felt it all the way down into his toes.  
  
"These were my favorite pair of pants, you f*cking bastard!!!!" She leapt at him, and he brought the gun up to fire at her again, only to watch as she disappeared from sight. Then he felt a strong arm wrap around his neck, pulling him against a warm, no, HOT body, his back crushed against curves that let him know EXACTLY who had grabbed him. She had unnaturally hot skin, and he heard himself whimpering as he struggled to break free of the strong grip. He felt sharp points touch his lower back.  
  
"Want me to teach you a trick?" She whispered into his ear, causing him to shudder. "My uncle did it once to my father when they still hated each other. It damn near killed him. I don't think you'd be as lucky as him..." Damon was certain that if hadn't pissed his pants before then, he probably had now. But even if he did, he didn't notice, as all of his attention was focused on those razor-sharp points that had begun to press against his back. He began to cry, not caring about anything except the fact that he was about to die. And painfully, he guessed.  
  
Kai breathed deeply, reveling in the scent of his fear, which was so powerful she thought she would get drugged herself on it soon if she didn't block it. Her eyes narrowed as she focused back on the person in her grip, her claws ready to drive through his body like she had been told Sesshoumaru had once done to Inuyasha. She remembered that story, and how they had kept her father sealed in a room so he could heal, while Kagome was stuck in her world.  
  
Tears began to drop down on her arm. DAMN! Like her father, tears were her weakness. But, this man was cruel. His tears, therefore, didn't cause her just to drop him and walk off. No, she would make sure he remembered it. She pressed her claws against his back just enough to tear through his shirt and break skin, then drew her claws slowly down his back. She smiled her battle-smile as she inspected her work. Yes, he would have a scar. He wouldn't forget this. She heard him whimper once more, and leaned forward to speak to him for the last time.  
  
"I'm leaving you a memento. Be glad I'm leaving you your life. But, if you touch me or any other woman like you tried to, that scar on your back will look like a shaving nick by the time I'm finished with you. Understood?" At his nod, she let go of him, and his body fell to the ground. She looked at him disgustedly. "Try being more polite to women. You'll get more dates that way."  
  
The moment the fight was over, the red faded from her eyes and she began to lick the blood from her claws, only to have her ears pick up the sound of police cars heading towards them. She cursed angrily, and looked over at her family.  
  
"I'll be at home!! I'll meet you there!!" She spun around, only to come face-to-face with a demon. A certain, upset, black-haired, golden- eyed demon. She groaned as she realized she was in trouble. Her ears pricked as the sirens came closer. She reached out and grabbed Juro's hand. "Not here!" She told him, then took to the sky, using a trick she learned long ago from her Sesshou to use a cloud of energy to support her. She huddled on her small cloud and flew back to the hotel at top speed, knowing Juro was running behind her.  
  
Said demon watched as his sister flew off towards the hotel, trying to be noticed as little as possible. He tightened his grip on David, glanced over at his remaining family, who simply nodded and went back to pay for their movies, glared at the gang, noticing the claw marks on one, then took off after her. As he watched her white hair flaring up behind her, he couldn't help his sense of humor, and muttered darkly in a Ricky Ricardo accent, "Lucy, You got some explaining to do!"  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
WHEW! So, how was that? You guys got to see Kai's dark side!! Can you tell she was trained by Sesshy?? Anyways, sorry this took so long, and PLEASE REVIEW!! Bye for now!! 


	17. Ooops?

Hey again!! MAN!! I didn't get any reviews!! Ouch!!! I think I'm gonna cry!!! Although I am startled at the amount of reviews I've been getting for A Kitsune's Tears. I'm thinking about writing a 3rd story, but I'm gonna wait for a while to put it up, since things get a bit hectic writing for 2 stories, let alone 3!!  
  
Well, here's your next chapter!! I hope SOMEONE enjoys it!!  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
CH. 17 Ooops??  
  
  
  
Souta sighed as he paid for the pizzas, his thoughts still on the fight earlier on. As soon as Kai and Juro had taken off, he and the others had gone back to pay for the movies. His two nephews had been relaxed about it until the police cars appeared. They knew they didn't look the least inconspicuous with their sunglasses and hats, and the marks the officers found on the gang leaders' back was enough to arouse curiosity. They had immediately sped from there, hoping no one noticed them.  
  
And now here they were, paying for 12 pizzas and hoping it would be enough. After all, Inuyasha could usually eat one whole large one alone, and now they had 6 demons, 2 hanyous, and 2 humans. The three boys didn't even notice the people staring at the stack of pizza boxes they carried down the sidewalk. For once, the youkai brothers were quiet and serious as they made their way back to the hotel. They were all lost in their own thoughts and memories...  
  
~~*~~  
  
With a simple 'poof!', Sesshoumaru watched the man that could have been his identical twin turn back into the orange-haired kitsune. They both relaxed in the car seats, although the demon lord was feeling more like ripping everything to shreds before going back into that building and make sure that stupid bitch didn't give anyone that insolent grin ever again.  
  
He almost had, but Shippou had noticed him and stopped his claws before they even fully extended. He had growled at the fox-demon then, but now he was somewhat grateful. He was still curious as to what had angered Kai so badly as to send out the warning signal. As he leaned into the leather, Shippou looked at him sadly. They had failed. The people insisted they were "completely booked", and were unable to see them sooner. And the night of the New Moon was steadily coming closer.  
  
It was final. They would still be in America when Inuyasha became a human.  
  
  
  
~~*~~  
  
Said hanyou was trying to convince his mate that perhaps it would be better if he were to take over driving, since her mind seemed to be.... preoccupied. He knew what was wrong. They had heard the report over the radio of a wild animal attack, and how a man had come away with claw marks down his back, although they had yet to figure out what kind of animal it was. But Inuyasha knew, and so did Kagome.  
  
They also knew, however, that Kai wouldn't attack someone unless she had a good reason, and the warning she had released earlier had helped to piece it all together. Someone had tried to do something to Kai, she had gotten angry, and had fought back. They knew she fought back partially because they said that all 8 men had to be taken to the hospital to be checked for any injuries. The poor half-dog-demon was as worried as his wife, but still...  
  
THEY DIDN'T NEED TO BE FLYING DOWN THE ROAD AT ABOUT 100 MPH, BARELY MISSING EVERY CAR IN SIGHT!!!!!  
  
~~*~~  
  
David winced. After they had arrived at the hotel, Juro had handed him his back and said he needed to speak to his sister. They thought the human was back in the room with all their luggage in it, but he had crept out long ago to listen to the story. He heard her talk about the guy who had grabbed her butt, and was surprised to hear growling which, he had realized eventually, came from Juro!!  
  
The youkai had listened to his twin's story, his blood racing as his body perked up for a fight. Or, to be more precise, a massacre. He listened as Kai told him how she had 'taken care of' the gang, and approved of her treatment of their leader. Sighing, he relaxed against the cushions before giving his sister and former teacher a quick grin, tilting his head towards the back room. She nodded, barely perceptible, and called out to the human who had been standing there, listening to every word.  
  
"Hey Dave, you know, you can hear a lot better if you weren't just standing in the hallway like a goof!" They wore identical grins as the guilty-faced, blushing boy stepped away from his hiding spot. Then he raised curious eyes to the demoness.  
  
"Did you REALLY use your claws to cut up some guy's back!??!?"  
  
"WHAT?!?!?!" The grins turned to winces instantly at their mother's yell. She and their father had just burst through the door, a look of fury and worry on her face, and a look of pride on their father's. However, at Kagome's "Don't you dare encourage them or else I'll make you wish you were STILL pinned to that tree" look, he quickly ducked his head and made his way to the kitchen, the bags in his hands full to bursting with his beloved Ramen.  
  
Kai groaned and held her head in her hands. "Mom, can we please wait until everyone else gets here? I really don't feel like explaining it over and over, and the guys should be here soon with the food and movies, plus Uncle Sesshoumaru and Shippou should be back any second now."  
  
"Actually, my dear niece, we were here only moments before your mother, but we thought it might be best to not get into her way, no matter how curious we were." Both of the twin's heads, along with the single human's, turned to look at the figure was leaning against the doorjamb. A dark eyebrow rose as he studied his brother's only female offspring. "And here I thought you would have been able to smell me, sense me, hear me, or something..."  
  
A blush crept up over her cheeks, and she murmured her excuse, saying her mother kind of over-rode all other senses. Especially when her mother's temper was up like that. Sniffing, she could smell her uncle strongly now, along with everyone's favorite kitsune, her mother and father, and... Ramen??  
  
"DAD!!" She yelled, tossing her head back to make sure he heard her. When his head popped into the room, she sent him a glare. "You DO remember that the three stooges should be back any minute with pizzas, right??"  
  
"Yeah, but what if it's not enough? Besides, I'm hungry NOW." With that said, their father went back to work making himself who-knows-how-many bowls of his favorite food. He had lived almost 500 years without it, and seemed intent on making up for every missed meal.  
  
Kai sniffed again, and recognized her brother's scents, which always had a faint trace of her on them. Probably because they use me as a pillow, and my tail as a blanket all the time, she thought. Sighing, she stood up and walked over to the door, ready to open it for the loaded-down trio.  
  
After everyone got comfortable, and each had grabbed a few slices of pizza (even Sesshoumaru!!), Kagome told her only daughter to tell them the whole story, and that if she left out one detail, she would personally seal HER on the God Tree, right where her father used to be. Inuyasha, though, who was closer to the full-demon, whispered loudly, "Did you at least kick their ass?" At her laugh and nod, everyone seemed to relax a bit more, even her mother.  
  
With a nervous smile, Kai told them everything. AGAIN. She remembered everything vividly (a talent she had learned to acquire, thanks to her mother), and made sure not to leave out one thing, even Souta's snarl, which had made her younger uncle blush.  
  
Afterwards, she was surprised with the pats on the back she received. Finally it was time for her mother's say-so. She glared at her daughter.  
  
"First of all, you didn't need to use your claws. You could have easily taken him down without them. Second of all..." Her scowling face melted away to reveal her warm, proud smile, her blue eyes shining mischievously. "I wish I had been there!!! Dammit, Taisho, why didn't you take the camera with you?! I'd've PAID to have seen that!!!!" At Sesshoumaru's and Inuyasha's nods, one mouth curled slightly in a smile and the other stuffed too full to attempt a smile, Taisho began to curse himself, with Kaedo's occasional help.  
  
"Next time," Shippou announced to the group, "I'm going with Kai. She always has all the fun!!"  
  
Everyone laughed and agreed, even David and Sesshoumaru, who reached out a clawed hand to tug gently on a lock of his niece's hair. When her eyes flickered over to him, he nodded slightly, pride showing clear on his face as he gave her a warm smile. He watched as her face lit up, her eyes shining and her fangs glinting dangerously in the light as she smiled back.  
  
They were both pulled from their secret show of approval and praise when Kaedo's voice reached their ears. "Well, you know, they may have it on the news, even if they do say it's a wild animal..." Almost immediately, David ran over to the remote control and found the main network, which was usually nothing but news.  
  
They all had a good laugh as the reporter interviewed the 'poor, innocent, victims', and discussed with a zoo-keeper about the dangers of wild animals, and how he thinks perhaps one of the larger cats, perhaps a tiger, was loose.  
  
And the unfortunate hotel employee who had to deliver room service to a couple near the family's room heard rich laughter, and a man's voice declaring arrogantly, "FEH! Tiger, my ass!!! It was a damn dog!! And a bitch at that, too!!!! HA!!" Right before a couple of growls began to emanate from that same room.  
  
The employee left then, thinking he was not paid enough, and so never heard the loud 'THUD' Inuyasha made when Kagome "sat" him.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Well, there ya go!! I hope you liked it!! If so, PLEASE REVIEW. I'm beginning to think people are getting tired of it... *sniffles, trying not to cry* Pease? 


	18. Ayasuke's Realization

Hey everyone!! I'm back!!! And, due to one reviewer's request for more of Ayasuke, I promise to give you a nice big chunk of him here! Enjoy!!!  
  
Also, time for some shameless self-promotion!!! Okay! Everybody reading this knows about Glimpse of the Future (the prequel to this one). I've also got a story called "A Kitsune's Tears" if you want to read it. I'm thinking about starting another one, called "My Father's Soul", but I'm only on chapter 3, and I don't want to take away from this and "Kitsune". ALSO!!! I just got taken on at a website called A Single Spark. It is a strictly Sesshoumaru/Kagome site, and I think they said it's the ONLY one. Wow, huh??  
  
Well, if you want the address for A Single Spark, or to be on an update list, or to get the pic of Kai, Juro, Taisho, and Kaedo I have. (I only have one drawn, for those of you who have already seen it), just email me at psylock1234@inuyasha.nu and ask!!  
  
Okay, enough of that! Here's your chapter! And they're still not mine!!  
  
Do people actually read that crap!? ^^^^  
  
~~~~~  
  
Ch. 18 Ayasuke's Realization  
  
  
  
He stared at the developing photos, wishing they would hurry and get finished already. He didn't trust them with some small-time film developer. No, he would develop these himself. He had been amazed at the girl's fighting ability. He had never seen someone move that fast in his life. Except him. And that was simply because he had some messed-up genes that gave him freaky attributes. Like that damned spider!!! He was told one of his ancestors had an identical mark on his back, but they wouldn't tell him anything about him except that his name was Naraku, and he had been very powerful at one point. They wouldn't even tell him how his antecedent lost his power. And he hadn't really cared that much, either.  
  
But now... Here was this girl, able to move so fast that a normal person would probably have missed it. With the glowing red eyes. With the nails that could somehow become longer, and strong enough to cut through a man's clothes and skin. He was impressed by her. He was curious about her. He decided enough was enough. He was going to face one of the family members. He had planned on Sesshoumaru, but now... He glanced at the now- finished picture, hanging it up to dry as he did so.  
  
Now he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to know how she was so powerful. Was she different, like him? But that whole family had the same traits. Would they know the man called "Naraku"? How could they, when he knew so little himself? Coming to a decision, he left the photos to dry as he went back to the main room of his apartment, his computer humming to life as he took it off of standby and began to search for his parent's email address. A cruel smile twisted his lips when he found it and clicked on it, bringing up a window to type his message into.  
  
"Mom.  
  
You told me when I was a kid about some guy named Naraku. What happened to him? What made him different? Where'd he get the spider mark from?  
  
Ayasuke"  
  
He was so used to always writing "Ayasuke", he did it naturally. After hitting send, he decided to go out and grab a bite to eat. But his plans were cancelled when he was interrupted in the middle of tying his shoes to the sound of new mail alert. Curious as to whether it was some other porno ad, or his actual mother, he opened the message.  
  
"Son.  
  
If you really want to know, then so be it. Get offline, and I'll call and tell you everything.  
  
Mom."  
  
One eyebrow raised, he immediately signed offline, waiting for the phone to ring. It seemed to take forever, when in actuality it only took a minute.  
  
"Hello?" Ayasuke at least tried to be polite to her, although they never got along very well.  
  
"NOW you're willing to hear about him?" His mother's annoying, scratchy voice came through the receiver to grate in his ear.  
  
"Yeah." No, ma, I just said I did for the hell of it. He rolled his eyes and begged his brain silently to not explode in frustration.  
  
"And why's that?!" Why the hell should it matter?? Nah, shouldn't say that... Oh, what the hell.  
  
"Why the hell should it matter?" Oh, I'm in for it now. Here we go with the "Because you're so lazy, you good-for-nothing, ungrateful bastard" speech. But it didn't come. Instead, his mother seemed to deflate, and she actually sounded tired.  
  
"It doesn't. I'm too old for this. Fine! You want to know!! Naraku was destroyed. He didn't just die, he was destroyed. The fact that it took a large group of the most powerful people to kill him tells you why he was different. And the spider mark was where he was burned before he became Naraku."  
  
"Hold on. What the hell do you mean 'before he became Naraku'? What was he before that? Lucy?!"  
  
"No! His name was Onigumo. He was a thief. He was taken care of by a priestess over 500 years ago, when he suffered severe burns and 2 broken legs. But when he lusted after the woman, especially after he learned she had the Shikon No Tama."  
  
"Shikon no what!?"  
  
"Shikon No Tama, now shut up. It was a jewel that could grant immense power to those who absorbed it. He wanted it. But, the priestess kept it pure, and he wanted it to be tainted with hatred and malice. So, for the jewel and for the woman, he invited the demons of that era to devour him, and he would in turn take their strength, speed, and other abilities. He was reborn as Naraku."  
  
"Hold up. So this Naraku guy, was actually some kind of demon?"  
  
"Yes and no. He was a half-demon, seeing as how was not BORN a demon."  
  
"WHO THE F*CK WOULD LET A BUNCH OF F*CKING DEMONS EAT HIM?!"  
  
"Your ancestor. Now do you want to hear this or not?"  
  
"..."  
  
"I thought so. Now, using his new powers, he turned the priestess against her lover, making them think they betrayed each other. He could change his looks, and went to the priestess as the half-demon she cared about, then gave her a mortal wound while still in that form. He knew she would then attack the half-demon, or hanyou, the moment she saw him. Then he changed to the woman's shape- "  
  
"Whoa. He became a WOMAN?! What kind of sick f*ck was he!?"  
  
"He made himself LOOK like a woman. The priestess, to be exact. In that shape, he went after her hanyou lover, enraging him enough to make him attack the priestess' village and steal the Shikon No Tama. And, just like Naraku hoped, the woman arrived in time to see her village in flames, and her betrayer fleeing with the jewel. She killed him. Or so many thought. She pinned him to a tree with an arrow in his chest."  
  
"Yeah, that'd kill me."  
  
"LIKE I was saying... She died almost immediately afterwards. This was something Naraku hadn't expected. She could have wished on the jewel to live, and she would have. But she didn't. She had it burned with her body."  
  
"Bet he was pissed."  
  
"To no end. He tried to pass the time by ruining other people's lives. He even put an air void in a lecherous monk's right hand. It was to be passed down, sucking in everything in its path unless sealed, growing wider until it sucked in it's possessor, unless one of his descendants could kill Naraku."  
  
"Sucks to be him."  
  
"I bet. Now stop interrupting. About 50 years later, the priestess reappeared."  
  
"Whoa whoa whoa. You just said she died!! How can she re-appear?!"  
  
"If you'd shut up and listen, you'd know. It wasn't the priestess. It was her reincarnation. And with the new body, the jewel was reborn. It was actually inside the girl's body. But this priestess and the last one looked very much alike. This girl, though, awoke the supposedly-dead hanyou and freed him from her incarnate's prison. Then the stupid little idiot went and shattered the jewel. So she and her past life's lover teamed up to find them all. Your ancestor decided to find them all, as well. And when he learned of Naraku's intentions, the grandson of the monk decided to gather the pieces too, until he met with Naraku and could kill him."  
  
"Man, my ancestor had lots of friends, huh?"  
  
"More than you think. He also decided to use the hanyou's half-brother, a demon lord who ruled all the western lands, and a full demon, against the half-demon and reincarnation. Finally, the guy ended up taking in a little human girl, and ended up turning against Naraku as well. And before you can say anything, there's even more. In order to get more fighters on his side, Naraku took control over a demon hunter, and had him kill his entire family. He also destroyed the village where the demon hunters lived. But the one your ancestor chose was a boy, and one of his family members survived the attack. His elder sister, who was famous for her skill. So now she hated Naraku as well, for controlling her brother and killing everyone she cared about."  
  
"Damn. Whole world's against him, huh?"  
  
"Basically. He had two other helpers, though. A girl who could control the wind, and a girl who was obsessed with mirrors. I was told when I was younger that they had some kind of special powers, but none of us can remember them. Anyways, the wind girl attacked a wolf-demon pack, gaining yet another enemy for Naraku. Even better, the leader of the pack, a prince, liked the reincarnated priestess! And the wind-girl eventually went to the demon lord, remember, the hanyou's half-brother? And asked for help. He refused, but still. It showed that wind-girl wasn't entirely trustworthy. Good thing for Naraku, though, was when the first priestess was brought back to life. But now she hated her former love, and hated her reincarnation as well."  
  
"Bet he was happy."  
  
"Oh yeah. Until, of course, they all finally attacked him. The two demon exterminator's fought, since the sister didn't want anyone to hurt her brother; and the wolf took on the wind-girl. Everyone else, the reincarnated priestess, who was more powerful than the first; the hanyou, who had acquired a powerful sword which let him break barriers and kill 100 demons in one hit; the monk with the black hole in his right hand; and the demon lord all took on Naraku, the mirror-girl, and the former priestess. Take a wild guess who won."  
  
"I'm guessing the reincarnation's group."  
  
"Correct. Naraku was extremely powerful, but the reincarnation was too. She could fire arrows that would purify whatever it hit, and could actually hurt Naraku very badly."  
  
"I bet."  
  
"The hanyou wouldn't attack the first priestess, since he still cared somewhat for her, so the reincarnation faced her while the three males attacked your ancestor. In the end, Naraku was destroyed, the boy was freed from the control, and the former priestess was nothing but a pile of earth and bones."  
  
"Damn."  
  
"Yeah, now you know. Messed up, huh?"  
  
"Yeah. So does anyone else in our family have that spider mark?"  
  
"No. Which is what made us nervous in the first place. In 500 years, you were the only one born with that. We really hoped Naraku couldn't be reincarnated."  
  
"Why?? We'd get some power, after all."  
  
"Because Naraku tended to ensure his fighter's loyalty with body parts. He gave the demon lord a left arm, which later burned up, the wind-girl fought for her heart, and who knows what else he did."  
  
"For her heart? What, was she in love with someone or something."  
  
"No, he had her actual heart, and she fought to keep it from being destroyed."  
  
"Ouch. Sucks. Well, I'm off to bed. Bye."  
  
"Night."  
  
He lay back in his bed, staring at the picture in his hand. It was of the girl at the airport. He had been able to get a good shot. Her whole family was in it, and she was trying to get the hat back on her head and out of the airport. His lips came up in a cold smile. My, but she's lovely. And so is the other woman, although I think she may be just a couple of years older than me. And I like my women younger.  
  
His eyes drifted shut as he relaxed, letting sleep overtake him. Ayasuke never felt his hand clench around the photograph as he dreamt of a man with red eyes and black hair, occasionally wearing a white baboon pelt, fighting against some people who looked curiously familiar. There was a white-haired person. He word red, had dog-ears, and wielded a massive sword, which turned blood red when it hit an invisible barrier. There was also a woman there, dressed in a green and white schoolgirl uniform, looking like some character off of a Sailor Moon episode, and aiming a bow and arrow, which seemed to be glowing white. Then there was someone in black and purple, holding up his right hand, which seemed to pull anything in it's path towards it, a woman dressed in black and pink armor carrying a large boomerang and riding on a massive cat with fire around it's paws, a man with black hair pulled up in a ponytail and wearing armor and brown fur, with a brown tail, and finally...  
  
Ayasuke's eyes snapped open and he sat up, drenched in sweat. The spider mark seemed to pulse, and he looked at the picture in his clenched fist, searching for the face he could have sworn looked familiar. He smoothed out the print, only to stop when his eyes connected on the man he had recognized without a shadow of a doubt...  
  
Sesshoumaru.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
WELL!! That was longer than usual!! But hey, you got a nice HUGE chunk of Ayasuke!! I wasn't planning on it taking up so much, but, oh well. Also, who would want me to make a nice little fic about the family going to a cosplay event, or a karaoke bar? Review and tell me!!! 


	19. Memories Return

HEY EVERYONE!! Aw, was I missed?? I didn't think so... Anyways, I'm gonna promote a story I like, but apparently isn't very popular (6 reviews... I feel bad... I like the story!!), It's called Inuyasha's Tricky Tail. Yep. Inuyasha has a tail. I guess that explains the extra-poofy pants, huh? Well, I guess I'll move on to the next chapter!!  
  
Also, I was asked about Miroku and Sango's possible reincarnations. I figure I could put them in here, but you'll have to put up with American names and looks, considering that's where they are!! Well, when I get some reviews on it, I'll decide whether or not to put them in!  
  
Well, they're still not mine!! Sorry!!!!  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Ch. 19 Memories Return  
  
  
  
He watched as she blocked each of his attacks. Perfectly. They were both holding wooden staffs, hers more smooth and worn, while his was still relatively new. He felt he should test her, see if she could hold her own in the event of an attack from a lesser youkai, or at least from a human. As she moved around her sensei, he noted the speed and grace she used so easily. Her blue eyes were as bright and sharp as ever, and her long white hair flowed out behind her as she dodged yet another attack.  
  
Finally, he nodded his acceptance of her skill, causing her to smile happily. And, as always, her smile was contagious, making his lips curve into the warm smile he rarely showed anyone. One that radiated pride. While he always had Rin around, he could never teach her to fight like this. She could fight, yes. In fact, he had begun her lessons after he decided to teach his niece. But she was a human. She would not be able to truly challenge him, as this girl would. And he longed for a challenge. He held one true fear. Weakness. Without a challenging opponent, how would he be able to train efficiently?  
  
And so he taught his half-brother's demon child. His hanyou brother's full-demon daughter. Inuyasha was busy training Kagome, Juro, and now Shippou, who had decided that since he was older than the eldest son, he should know how to fight as well. The other two boys were to stay with Kai and the other two members of the former shard-hunters. They now had children as well, so Taisho and Kaedo would have friends to play with. But Kai...  
  
She always came to him. She wanted to learn, and she wanted him to teach her. No one else could. She had defeated the monk almost instantly, and the demon exterminator's large boomerang had been unable to catch the agile youkai. No, it would take a demon to teach a demon. He smiled at his student. And he was the demon to teach her.  
  
He guessed she could probably defeat his brother now if she tried, since the hanyou would never draw the Tetsusaiga against his daughter. But even with a normal katana, Inuyasha could defeat her. A wooden staff is not the weapon a blade is. That is why he had decided to test her. Her birthday was soon coming up within the week, and though Kagome had extended an invitation to himself and Rin (and Jaken, at his option, but he knew the miko-hanyou disliked his servant, and so did not include him), he would not be able to give her the gift he was intending.  
  
And so, she would receive two presents from the same person. From her Uncle Sesshoumaru, she would be given kimonos and sandals, a new comb, and other small things. From her sensei, Sesshou, her gift would be her first sword. The only sword she would ever need. He had commissioned for it to be forged for her, as his father had done for he and his half- brother, but this was made from one of Sesshoumaru's claws. This would cause the sword to be lighter, and easier for a female to wield.  
  
As she dropped her staff to hug him, he couldn't help but notice how her body had begun to develop muscles, toned yet strong. She had been training on her own when he wasn't available, he could tell. He had also seen the bruises on the monk and her older brother who were certain she had been exaggerating about her skill. He returned her hug stiffly, trying to get used to the idea of embracing someone. But she and Rin had been slowly trying to get him used to the sensation. He doubted he would ever be used to it. Or their constant delight when either girl saw him.  
  
Shaking his head slightly, he set the young girl down on the ground, and drew the sheathed sword from its place at his hip. Her eyes watched his movements, focusing on his hand, and then flicking up to his eyes before going back to the katana. He held it out towards her, grasping onto the sheath as her small hand wrapped around the blue silk-wrapped hilt.  
  
It was made for her. It welcomed her touch. He smiled as he watched her face, his grin growing as she held up the blade that was about her height. The contrast was startling as she looked over the deadly blade with wide, innocent eyes. No. Not innocent. Not anymore. He was going to teach his niece about death. She needed to learn.  
  
Kai had to learn how to kill, or else she would be killed. And he would not allow that.  
  
~~*~~  
  
David yawned and stretched out. Last night had been pretty interesting. He had gotten to hear about the fight Kai was in, and how everyone knew about it at the same time. Then they had explained the whole warning-signal thing. But what had gotten him the most was when he saw Sesshoumaru's eyes change colors. The whites had become blood red, and his pupils had become blue. It had taken Kai's reassurances to calm him back down enough to control what everyone called his "Transformation".  
  
Boy, had he felt like an idiot when he asked what that meant. They had all damn near died laughing. Then they had explained about their demon forms. These were basically their true forms. An inu-youkai, or a dog demon, would have the true form of a dog, just as a fox demon, or a kitsune, like Shippou, would have the form of a fox. He had gotten to see Shippou's form, a beautiful (or should he say handsome?) sleek fox, with soft fur that matched his hair color. He had asked to see one of the other's true form, but Kaedo had told him that they couldn't change in the apartment, hence the reason Kai had soothed Sesshoumaru's nerves. Before Dave could ask why, though, Taisho had told him that their demon forms were just a little bit larger than Shippou's. By about 3 stories.  
  
And here he had imagined seeing Sesshoumaru turn into basically a normal-looking Alaskan Husky or something. Nope. Scratch that.  
  
And so they had promised to show him first chance they got. But they would need a large, uninhabited area, where no one ever went. Then they had told him about how to tell if one of them is going to change, about how their eyes turn blood red. He had asked about Inuyasha and Kagome's demon forms, but they had both blushed, and Juro had pointed out the fact that they were hanyous. Half-demons. They had no demon form. Unless their demon blood took over, which could only happen to Inuyasha if he didn't have the Tetsusaiga. Kagome was lucky enough to have been bound by the Shikon no Tama, but if her husband lost his beloved sword (which David had spent many hours ogling), and his life was in danger, his youkai blood would take over, and his eyes would change like all the others, but his mind would narrow down to one thought, which would be to kill. And keep killing. And perhaps mate. Then kill some more.  
  
He made a mental note not to piss off Inuyasha when he didn't have his sword.  
  
Now Dave crawled out of bed, trying not to wake his new friends as he made his way to the bathroom. If there was one thing he had learned from Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, besides many new curses to call Trent, it was to take a shower before the others beat him to it. There was only so much hot water, after all.  
  
Grinning, he shut and locked the bathroom door, then reached over to turn on the shower full blast, letting the water warm up while he undressed. At the sound of a bunch of male voices crying out how unfair he was, his smile grew, and he responded with a quick laugh before jumping into the shower to get clean.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kai yawned and stretched when she heard her brothers and Souta crying out to a locked bathroom door that the person hiding inside taking advantage of the hot water was a cruel, selfish, unfair person. She laughed softly, and added her own opinion. Smart kid.  
  
She rubbed her face against the tail that had been offered to her after her brothers had fallen asleep. Sometimes her Uncle Sesshoumaru would let her use it as a pillow or a blanket, if he slept close enough to her and caught her before she fell asleep. Smiling, she looked up at her uncle and teacher's face, his eyes opening slowly due to the boy's now- quieting yelps, and her own laugh. She growled a soft "good morning" to him, one that a human wouldn't have been able to understand. To their ears, it would have sounded like she was simply growling at him.  
  
A soft smile pulled at the edges of his mouth, and he growled back to her. His thoughts went back to his dream as he watched his niece and pupil slowly rouse from her makeshift bed. That hadn't been a simple dream, but a memory of a time when he had had to teach her to survive. And he was gladder than he had been in a long time that he had taught her such skills, since otherwise she would have been a lot more vulnerable to the bastards who touched her the day before.  
  
He felt his eyes begin to glow again as he went over the conversation again, wishing he had been there to tear each and every one of those idiots into unrecognizable shreds. A soft voice and a warm hand on his shoulder brought him back to the present, and he found himself staring into a pair of familiar blue eyes. The same blue eyes that had once been filled with innocence and sadness at being left out, only to be replaced by the strength he knew she had in her, and the pride and wisdom she gained from her lessons.  
  
"Kai."  
  
"Sesshoumaru, calm down. They didn't hurt me. They pissed me off, and they paid for it. There's no need in getting upset now, okay? Please, Sesshou?" She rarely called him this, and never in front of others. He rewarded her use of his nickname with a small smile and nod. She smiled back at him, hugging his neck lightly before going to the tiny kitchen to make herself something to drink. She knew how to relax him, no matter what. He loved his niece. If he had ever mated and had a child, he would have hoped for one like Kai. And that was saying something, as he had always considered females to be the weaker of the species.  
  
No longer.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Inuyasha groaned. He was going to KILL his sons. His daughter was awake, too, he could her talking to an angry Sesshoumaru, no doubt calming him down again. The demon lord's energy had flared up only a while after his boys had begun to complain about the human guest's claim over the first shower.  
  
As he lay there, an evil grin spread across his face. He could get some revenge on them. He had learned from Souta and Kagome (although he had mainly practiced the technique on Kagome), that if you flushed the toilet while someone was in the shower, they tended to get a nice change in temperature in their water. Just wait until one of his kids or Souta himself was in the shower. He'd give them a NICE wake-up call.  
  
He was so warm, now, though, and so comfortable lying next to Kagome, that he decided to wait for a while before getting up. And so, with a smile on his face, he lay back down and pulled his mate closer to him, watching as she curled up against him, sighing softly. In a short while, he had joined her in sleep yet again.  
  
~~*~~  
  
It was final. Everyone was against him. Shippou tried to block out all the sounds pouring into his ears, but was unsuccessful until he placed a pillow firmly over his head, muttering dark curses he had learned long ago from the inu-youkai and his hanyou brother.  
  
Maybe we should toss them down the well and let them try to find a place to take a hot bath back in the Sengoku Jidai. I think the boys have become a bit spoiled, and Souta's never had that problem.  
  
Oh yeah. Definitely gonna toss them down the well.  
  
Just as soon as he could convince his body to wake up.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sorry that took so long to get out!! Has anyone else been having problems with Fanfiction.net? I couldn't seem to log in for the past few hours... Oh well, feel free to review!! And don't forget to vote, Miroku and Sango, Americans in modern times, or no? 


	20. Who Are You?

Hey everyone!! I'm BAAAACK!!!! I know you all missed me just oh so much!! Okay, I got an OVERWHELMING amount of reviews, so needless to say, I'M DELIGHTED!!!  
  
As of now, the votes stand thus : 1 for no Miroku/Sango, 1 for Miroku, Sango, AND Rin, and the rest for Miroku and Sango. Cool, huh??  
  
Well, I guess here's your next chapter, and I still don't own them!! (Rub it in my face, why don't ya?)  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Ch. 20 Who Are You?  
  
  
  
He watched as they stepped out of the hotel. It was only a few of them, but SHE was there. Her long white hair was braided, and she wore a bandanna and a pair of sunglasses, but she didn't cover up the blue streaks on her face and arms. He wondered why, while he looked her over. In his dream, only Sesshoumaru and the man in red with dog-ears had had such hair, and he hadn't been able to get a good view of her eyes yet, though he knew Sesshoumaru's were golden, and the other man's only a shade darker. So hers were probably that same color.  
  
But who was she?  
  
And who were these people to her? Sesshoumaru, who now walked next to her, was almost definitely related to her in some way, although he appeared just a little too young to be her father. The man with the orange hair he didn't recognize, nor the man with black hair, and the teenage boys that were talking excitedly about something. Three wore baseball caps and sunglasses, and one even had the same silvery color hair, but the other two didn't cover any part of their face or heads.  
  
As Ayasuke watched them get into the sleek black limo that drove them everywhere, his determination flared up, reminding him of his purpose. He shifted the car in gear and fought his way through the traffic until he was almost directly behind them.  
  
Today he would talk to her, and find out what she knew.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Juro rolled his eyes as he read his new book on the Feudal Age of Japan. He and his family damn near died laughing anytime they read one of these. Sesshoumaru, Shippou, Kai, Taisho, Kaedo, Souta, him and David had all gone to a nearby abandoned airfield to show the young human what a TRUE dog-demon looks like. Their parents had reluctantly (yeah right!) agreed to stay home, and relax. And watch movies. And eat Ramen, in Inuyasha's case.  
  
As he read about his old time, he felt a strange chill pricking it's way up the back of his neck. He looked at his twin, curious as to whether she felt it too, only to be rewarded by the sight of a stiff-backed, wide- eyed Kai. Even with her sunglasses on, he knew she was sensing something.  
  
Her head turned and looked past him, behind him and through the window. A whispered "No", kept him from following her gaze, but she finally relaxed and went back to her normal self. Or so he thought.  
  
"He's following us again. Why does he keep following us? I'm tired of this. I want to know. This time... He won't get away without some answers." Kai didn't look at anyone when she said this, but everyone saw Sesshoumaru's clawed hand rest on her shoulder. The young demoness shook her head slightly and looked up at her uncle, smiling. She began to relax again, much to everyone's relief.  
  
As Juro went back to his book, he tried not to laugh when his ears picked up the sound of Kaedo, Taisho, and Souta telling David how well Kai, Sesshoumaru, and Juro could fight. Souta kept insisting Taisho and Kaedo were fantastic fighters, too, but the younger demons merely waved it away, and began another story of one of Sesshoumaru's battles.  
  
Sighing, Juro gave up on reading and listened, wondering how many times they would be corrected.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Ayasuke looked around curiously. Why would they come out to such a place? It was nothing but a large, open field, apparently an abandoned landing field. He had followed them and parked his car far enough away that they'd need binoculars to see him. Grinning, his hand tightened around his own pair of binoculars as he lifted them to his face and peered at the group who had chosen to come to such a desolate place.  
  
Hm... Where did she go?? He noticed that the woman had disappeared, and the others were all watching as the two younger disguised boys pulled off their sunglasses and hats. His eyes widened behind his binoculars as they focused on small dog-ears and odd eyes. The color and shape were off... That bright of a blue and gold... That same silvery-white hair...  
  
As the two boys slipped into fighting positions, one defensive, and one confidently offensive, he grinned. They were training? Good. Now he could see if they were all fighters like her. He decided to wait until after the fights and before they left to catch them and get the answers he wanted. He'd catch the great Sesshoumaru later to talk about... monetary matters.  
  
"Enjoying the show?"  
  
The voice cut into his thoughts, halting them, and he barely had time to look up before something hit the back of his neck, and everything faded away. He caught a glimpse of blue and white, then everything went black.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kai snorted. This was him? This was the guy who had been following them around, freaking her out? Her senses said yes. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity, irritation, annoyance, and disbelief. Finally, she gave up on trying to figure him out and simply hefted him onto her shoulder.  
  
At his touch, she couldn't help but shiver slightly, and an odd feeling began to creep up the back of her neck. Shaking it off, she ran with a speed that rivaled her uncle's fastest sprint back to her family. Taisho and Kaedo were still sparring, just like she had asked, and Juro and Sesshoumaru were offering advice, with Shippou and Souta pointing out certain moves to David.  
  
She made sure not to get in the middle of the fight, nor distract anyone, as she placed the unconscious man next to the car, and looked at him inquisitively. She wanted him awake, dammit. How could she ask him why he was following them if he wasn't awake to answer??  
  
It was at that moment laughter spilled over the field, and she turned to see what was so funny. What she saw made her laugh so hard tears were coming out of her eyes. Even Sesshoumaru could be heard chuckling softly.  
  
Kaedo had accidentally torn Taisho's pants up with his claws, but in an attempt to keep from losing the match, he kept fighting. It seemed Taisho had jumped straight up in hopes of Kaedo's horizontal swipe missing him. It had shredded the front of his pants, closely missing a considerably important appendage and showing off a pair of black boxer shorts with little Scooby-Doo's all over them. Taisho's face had paled considerably, she guessed, seeing as how it STILL wasn't the right color.  
  
Shippou had actually fallen onto the ground, rolling around and laughing, with desperate cries for Taisho's Polaroid. He seemed to be rewarded when Souta grinned mischievously (I think he's been spending too much time with my younger brothers...), reached into his backpack, and pulled out... none other than the famous camera itself.  
  
After a few shots were taken, much to her silver-haired brother's embarrassment, a soft groan pulled Kai back to her 'captive'. She raised an eyebrow as he opened his eyes slowly, feebly raising his hand in an attempt to block out the sun. Grinning, the demoness positioned herself to prevent the sun's glare from hurting his eyes. After all, she wasn't a cruel person.  
  
Most of the time.  
  
~~*~~  
  
The shadow that shielded him seemed to dark to be a simple cloud rolling by, and as his eyes came back into focus, he found himself staring into a pair of brilliant blue eyes. His own eyes widened, and he could only stare at those bright orbs, which seemed to be the oddest pair of eyes he'd ever seen. The blue tint almost seemed to glow, and her pupils were slitted, a lot like a cat's, and they were full of emotions, but also very sharp and critical. He knew if he so much as blinked, they would know. Were his finger to twitch, this person would see it.  
  
Finally, the eyelids closed briefly as the person blinked, then leaned back a little ways. When he realized who he was looking at, he began to wish he had just stayed the hell home. Shouts and cheers could be heard in the background, along with encouragement and advice.  
  
"Come on, Juro!! I thought you said Shippou was an EASY opponent!!"  
  
"Alright, Shippou!!"  
  
"OUCH! Juro, he DOES intend to walk away from this!!"  
  
"Shippou! Watch his feet as well! And his tail!"  
  
A hand on his shoulder supported him as he sat up, and he glanced to where the fight had been earlier, only to see an older black-haired man, also with ears and odd gold eyes, fighting another man with red-orange hair and odd blue-green eyes. And did someone say 'TAIL?!?!!?'  
  
He stared in amazement at their speed and skill, but wondered when the other two had stopped fighting. He didn't notice Kai's examination, and so when she answered his unspoken question, he nearly leapt a foot in the air in surprise.  
  
"When you started to come to, you groaned and threw off Kaedo's concentration. Taisho got even for his ripped-up jeans before he won. I fight next, against Sesshoumaru." He looked over to the woman who had spoken, taking in her eyes and stripes, wondering where she had gotten the tattoos done at. Then he saw them. There, on top of her head, was a pair of dog-ears similar to the ones the man in his dream possessed.  
  
At the sight of those dog-ears, and at the mention of Sesshoumaru's name, a feeling of rage and hatred flared through him, making him see things with a slightly more reddish tint. He heard a voice, almost his but slightly deeper, growl out something before the pressure had been replaced on his neck, and he fell into unconsciousness yet again.  
  
~~*~~  
  
"Inuyasha..."  
  
He was sure of it. This man, this human who looked so much like Naraku, and even possessed some youkai energy, had said his half-brother's name. Who was he? How did he know Inuyasha? And why did he look so much like that damned Hanyou from 500 years ago?!  
  
"Sesshoumaru?" Someone touched his shoulder lightly, and he looked up into his niece's face. She was looking at him almost nervously, as though she could sense his internal confusion. She probably could, seeing as how she had been as close as, if not closer than, Rin for 500 years. He sighed in defeat, and shook his head.  
  
"Kai. Do you remember the history of your parents well?" His tone had changed slightly, changing from loving but stern uncle to strict but patient teacher.  
  
"Of course, Sesshou, why?" He almost smiled at her then. How easily they slipped back into their old ways, even with her brothers and the humans around. But now was not the time for smiling.  
  
"Do you remember Naraku?" Kai's gaze became curious and she opened her mouth to answer him, but David actually interrupted her.  
  
"Isn't that the guy who tried to kill Inuyasha and Kagome?" The two demons looked at the intruding human, only to notice that the sparring session had stopped, and they were all watching the Lord of the Western Lands and his pupil.  
  
"Yes, he was. This man... He reminds me of him. Of Naraku. And he knew Inuyasha. And he did not sound happy to think of him." Sesshoumaru wondered if he should warn his half-brother and his mate. Someone may try to attack them while they are alone. But the hanyou still has the Tetsusaiga...  
  
"He knew Dad?" Taisho, of course, was leaning forward to get a good glimpse of the man who looked so much like the evil demon that despised his family. He watched as his father's elder brother lifted the man up and carried him to the limo, making sure he was still unconscious. I guess we're taking him home with us. That's okay, I guess... Kai said she wanted to ask him some questions... I'm guessing Mom will want to, also. If anyone can recognize Naraku, it'll be my parents. Taisho nodded as he thought, and finally grinned at his sister.  
  
"Hey Kai, so do we get to see you and Sesshoumaru fight now, or is it cancelled??" When David and Souta began to whine for a fight between the two best fighters, Taisho turned to Kaedo and winked. They knew what to do. And so, in unison, they turned wide, innocent, sad puppy-dog eyes towards their eldest sibling, whimpering softly with their ears pressed flat to their heads.  
  
Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes at this display. Did his nephews have no pride?? But a soft whimper near him made him look over at the demoness in question. She was wincing, and he realized that they were doing this purposely, knowing she couldn't say no to them when they did that. She looked over at her uncle, then, and saw the slight smirk tugging at his lips, and he watched her eyes flash mischievously.  
  
She turned back to the whining pups and smiled.  
  
"You'll have to ask Sesshoumaru."  
  
She may have been his niece. She may have been his pupil. She may have been a powerful opponent and ally. She may have been a beautiful demoness. She may have been his pride, and his challenge.  
  
But at that moment, he began to seriously consider strangling her.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Whew!! Sorry that took so long to get out!! Ouch!! Well, I gotta try and get out another chapter of a Kitsune's Tears! I get my rear-end kicked for that one!! Also, coming up soon!! We get to meet... David's mother!! HAHAHA!! Oops... sorry bout that. Please review!! 


	21. Don't Piss Off Sesshoumaru!

Sorry this took so long!! I ended up starting ANOTHER story!! I'm pathetic, aren't I? Anyways, here's your next chapter!!  
  
BTW, my new story is called "Everything's Changed", and it's a Sess/Kag, if you want to read it.  
  
And they're still not mine!!! *pouts and hugs her Shippou doll*  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Ch. 21 Don't piss off Sesshoumaru  
  
  
  
He was standing in an old Japanese home it looked like. A very nice home. Perhaps a manor or castle. And there were those people from his last dream, only without Sesshoumaru, and with a young boy in black and green armor. He seemed to be injured, and a young woman in black and pink armor, with her hair pulled up into a high ponytail, was holding a mask over his face. A cat with two tails was laying on the ground, a boy with red hair and a fluffy cream-colored tail next to it. A monk also stood nearby, a hand on some beads around his right hand, as though preparing to pull the apparent rosary off.  
  
But his attention was drawn inexplicably to the man with the dog- ears, white hair, gold eyes, red clothes, and a huge sword that would make any modern sword smith weep in joy. And while he stared at this man, Ayasuke felt a deep surge of hatred and anger flow through him. He wanted this man dead. No question.  
  
Yet, while he hated the man, the girl who stood nearby made him curious. She had black hair, and was dressed in more modern clothes, like a school uniform with a Sailor Moon twist to it. She had bright blue eyes, and seemed to be getting angrier and angrier. A bow was slung over her shoulder, and a quiver of arrows resided on her back.  
  
And all around them, a swirling dark mist flowed, apparently poisoning them all. He could almost FEEL someone standing nearby, and turned to look at him, only to see... himself. Himself with longer, thicker hair, and blood-red eyes. It was startling. He could only stare at the man who seemed to be so confident and delighted at watching the group inside the miasma, which was slowly killing them.  
  
Then that delight changed to curiosity, and fear, when the girl stood, yelling that she would never forgive him. Ayasuke watched as the girl strung an arrow and fired it directly at his double, surprisingly bursting through the cloud of poison, and into the copy's right arm. They both stared at the girl as she drew another arrow, firing it directly at the red-eyed version. Ayasuke was in awe as a bright glow surrounded the arrow, and it almost pierced his copy before it was knocked away, and the man in question basically exploded from the neck down.  
  
Everything began to dissolve, even him it seemed. He glanced around quickly, trying to find out what was going on, only to be greeted by a darkness that, oddly, felt welcoming. A powerful darkness that called to him, and spoke a name that tugged in the back of his mind.  
  
Naraku.  
  
~~*~~~  
  
The sounds of cheering leaked into his ears, stirring him from the comfortable blackness that held him. They sounded close by, as though they were directly next to him, almost, and in the distance he heard what seemed to be a battle raging. Swords clashed, producing a ringing in his ears, which fell into a dull throb in the back of his head and neck. He slowly cracked an eye open, wishing for Tylenol more than anything, only to be shocked still by what he saw.  
  
There stood the woman who had caught him spying earlier, her long white hair unbraided and flowing out behind her in the wind, holding a marvelous sword, which looked exactly like an ancient Japanese blade, kept in marvelous condition. Across from her stood Sesshoumaru himself, his hands wrapped around the hilt of his own sword, which was just as magnificent as the woman's.  
  
They leapt at each other, defending themselves in a perfect set of movements, which let neither opponent gain the upper hand. Then, the woman flashed a smile at him, and pushed him back. A strange wave rippled through him, causing an odd feeling along his spine. What was it??  
  
"Uh oh," a voice nearby stated. "Kai's let some of her power loose. I guess after an hour, she decided she wanted to get back soon." Ayasuke tried not to let them know he was awake, and simply watched the fighters, the male of the pair looking almost anxious, and nearly delighted with the turn of events.  
  
The woman flew towards her opponent again, and amazingly, Ayasuke noticed that her sword was not in her hands. But she moved faster than he could follow, and the moment he blinked, his eyes opened to a very different scene. They both had blood dripping from cuts on their faces, where he had raised his hand to catch her, and she had thrust her hand forward to hit him. And now, they both stood with their other hands raised to the opponent's neck, the sharp nails pressing lightly against each other's skin. Or, maybe not so lightly, he decided when blood began to drip down both throats.  
  
His eyes widened as they both smiled, pulled away, and bowed to each other before turning back in his direction. Almost immediately, the man, Sesshoumaru's, eyes locked on his. They narrowed dangerously, and Ayasuke began to wonder if he was really brave enough to threaten him. It didn't help to watch as the cuts on his face and throat closed before his eyes.  
  
"You're awake." Sesshoumaru's voice made him nearly jump up and start running for his life, but he knew from watching their fight he would have no chance were he to flee. So, he decided to be as brave as possible. He stood up, and glared back at the man before him, waiting to see who would make the first move. But the powerful businessman merely arched an eyebrow at him, and asked, "What is your name?"  
  
With everyone's eyes on him, he tilted his chin back slightly more, showing that he wasn't afraid, and hoping they couldn't tell just how scared he was. The man could heal in seconds! He was fast, strong, apparently deadly, and RIGHT. IN. HIS. FACE.  
  
"Well?" That tone came out even lower, and on what sounded almost like a growl. He tilted his head slightly forward, not taking his eyes off of the man before him, and finally responded with his name. Then he decided to ask a question that would probably knock them off-guard, allowing him some leverage with them. THEN he would be able to get his answers.  
  
"So, why do they have dog-ears, and... What did you call them? Ah, yes. 'Tails'". He smiled at the glowering face before him, only to be surprised by the sight of red tint beginning to leak into his eyes, turning the whites a bloody color, and the pupils turning blue.  
  
"How DARE you try to use them against me. Do you really want to know why they have those?" Ayasuke began to consider taking it all back, and falling back into unconsciousness, simply so he wouldn't have to face this deadly look. "Since you want to know so badly, I'll show you!"  
  
A voice to his right made him glance over to the source, only to see the youngest boy with dog-ears, the one with black hair and blue eyes, lean over to the two normal-looking ones. He strained his ears, and barely heard the words "now... WHY... dog-demons... true form..." Ayasuke's eyes widened as he looked back to the furious man before him, only to stagger back a step as the man's face lengthened, the stripes moving so one was directly under the now pushed-out mouth, and the other above. The face continued to lengthen, until it became the muzzle of a dog, complete with silvery-white fur, a long tail, and there, on his forehead, a blue crescent moon.  
  
Now Ayasuke's legs really DID stop working. As he fell numbly to the ground, he noticed the sharp fangs in the creature's mouth. Those fangs made the words "Dog-demon" go through his head over and over again, only to be snapped back to reality by the deep growl emanating from the huge form. The feeling of a pair of hands on his shoulders nearly made him leap back, only to be held in place by the man with the red-orange hair he had seen fighting earlier. The grim look in the blue-green eyes made Ayasuke a bit more nervous. But what he said was worse.  
  
"This is bad. He's mad at you, and now he won't listen to us. Stay near the boys and me if you intend to keep your life. We still want answers from you." A glance toward the huge animal in front of him, and a nod later, they all watched as the four people with dog-ears and tails stepped forward.  
  
"Sesshou!! Sesshoumaru!!" The woman tried calling to him, but when the poisonous liquid began to drip from his mouth, the four sighed and backed up, only to begin their own transformations.  
  
They all watched in awe (except Shippou, of course, he's seen this type of thing before) as the five inu-youkai stood there, three silvery- white, and two a midnight-black. The two main white ones, one he knew as Sesshoumaru, and the other simply as the woman he had been following, were growling back and forth at each other, with sharp yips or barks here and there, and even a whine coming from the female.  
  
Slowly, eventually, the group began to relax, and slip back into their human forms. Once they looked as they usually did, the girl ran over to the cold entrepreneur and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him, and apparently soothing him. After a while, he relaxed enough to return her embrace.  
  
At this, Ayasuke's brain finally over-loaded. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and he slipped back into the depths of darkness, hoping that this had been the dream, and reality would be there for him when he woke up. The last thing his conscious mind registered was a bright flash of light, and a laugh before a cry of pain...  
  
~~*~~  
  
Taisho laughed as he pulled the picture out of the Polaroid, waving it around slowly. But his laugh quickly disappeared as he yelped in pain, Juro having followed his father's example, and hitting his younger brother on the head. Unfortunately for everyone's favorite prankster, the feeling had been mutual almost all around, and so Juro's, Kaedo's, and Shippou's hands had connected, while Sesshoumaru and Kai growled in annoyance at him.  
  
Now, if only he had been conscious to hear David and Souta's laughter.  
  
Oh well.  
  
Shippou smiled and brushed off his hands, nodding at a job well done, only to see a similar smirk on the other's faces as well. Then Souta slipped between them to pry the camera out of Taisho's hands. Faster than they could realize what happened, the flash had already gone off, capturing a bruised, unconscious Taisho laying on the ground with his pants torn up and his boxers showing.  
  
Feel the family love.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
HAHA! Okay, so this chapter was kind of pointless, but hey, we got to see Sesshou transform!! And you'll find out WHY he hated Naraku that much soon, too!! Hehe... Anyways, feel free to review!!! 


	22. Sesshoumaru's Pain

Hey everyone!! I'm back!! And I've got a new website, too!! Hahah!! I stole it from my best friend! (actually, she gave it up! Too much work...) Anyways, feel free to stop by and tell me how it's looking so far!  
  
For all of those who don't know, I also have a one-shot fic out, and I'm planning on adding a songfic to that list! Haha! Okay, no more chocolate covered donuts before I write...  
  
And they're still not mine!!  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Ch. 22 Sesshoumaru's Pain  
Sesshoumaru still refused to look anyone in the eye, even Kai, as they rode in the limousine back to their hotel. The man they had caught was unconscious in the front seat, the dark-tinted glass barrier between the front and back seats up to block the smell and mostly the sight of him from the demon lord.  
  
For him, the pain was still too new, even if it had been centuries...  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kai was an apt pupil, blocking his attacks slowly and clumsily at first, but she was slowly progressing, and after she had cut him once with her blade, only to be encouraged, she had learned not to be so cautious in her training. Her sword, the Risouseigi, still seemed odd in the hands of someone who appeared to be so young and innocent. But she was not. He knew she was not. He had taken her hunting. He had fought against her. She was a killer, like him.  
  
Although he knew personally that simply because one killed did not make them evil, or cruel. Which is why he had chosen the name he did for her sword. "Ideal Justice." She was smart for someone so young, and knew the difference between right and wrong. She had even scolded him once for his temper. He smiled as he thought of this, which only caused her to stop at stare at him.  
  
"Sesshou?" Realizing his pupil had stopped, he slipped from his defensive stance back to his normal position. His eyebrow rose in curiosity, and he waited for his niece to continue. She blushed slightly, something he wasn't used to, and she went from his student to his brother's child again as she asked in a plaintive voice, "When are you and Rin going to come visit us again?" Understanding dawned on him, and he simply walked over to the sad child, lifting her with his arm again, and smiled.  
  
"Right now, if you wish." Her eyes had lit up, along with the rest of her face, and she nodded vigorously. As he took to the skies, his favorite family member began to ask questions about his adopted daughter. One of which, caught him off-guard.  
  
"Uncle Sesshoumaru?" He looked at her, almost smiling as he registered her change of names for him. "Do you think Rin will remember me?" The elder youkai didn't think his shock was apparent, but she must have seen it somehow, because she hastened to explain. "Well, I haven't seen her for months now... and now I'm stronger, and faster, dad says. He accidentally caught me trying to teach myself how to fly like you do, and told me that no one but you could do that. Is that true?"  
  
Her change of subjects was one of the things that made her remind him of Rin. She talked so much for someone who was once mute. But after he had brought her back to life using the Tenseiga, she just couldn't seem to be quiet. At first, it had been somewhat annoying, but he later began to enjoy her endless chattering. And she was still Rin, the first human to be concerned about him. No longer the only human, as Inuyasha's mate, Kagome, would now defend him, as would their human friends, the monk and the exterminator. But Rin was still the first.  
  
The smell of smoke and blood reached his sensitive nose as he approached his home, only to be stopped by the sight of a thick column of black rising into the air, flames licking towards the sky as they devoured the defenseless village that had been attacked. But the blood was what had caught him. He knew that blood, had memorized it long ago, when he had first seen the girl covered in bruises.  
  
Rin.  
  
Ignoring his niece's questioning gaze, and her soft sneezes as the smoke reached her nostrils, he sped directly to the village, trying to follow Rin's scent. His shoulder was suddenly lighter, but he didn't notice it and kept walking, hoping and fearing at the same time.  
  
The source of Rin's blood scent finally diverged, and he had to choose. Both ways were equally strong, but he could only go to one. Finally, he ran to his left, never noticing the blue and white streak that flew to the right. In his path, a large demon stood poised, a huge ax held in his hands. And on that ax, was a red liquid that smelled like... Rin. It was on the blade, it was on the handle in the form of bloody handprints, left by the creature. It was on his face. Near his mouth. INSIDE his mouth.  
  
Sesshoumaru's vision began to glow red and the demon laughed at his 'victim'. "Have you come here to die as well?! I'll kill you just like I killed that stupid brat earlier! Too bad Naraku's dead, otherwise I'd thank him for that tree of his!! Who knew an Illusory death could be so much fun!?" His laughter erupted again, and the demon lord flew into a rage, the bloodlust causing him to change quickly into his demon shape, which caused his opponent to finally stop grinning.  
  
"WHAT?! Naraku didn't mention this!!!" With a growl, Sesshoumaru was upon him, his claws digging into the demon's flesh before he let the poison drip from his muzzle, into the open wounds. As they sizzled and burned, the Taiyoukai barely managed to growl his question.  
  
"Mention what??" The large dog's eyes seemed to narrow slightly, a deep growl emanating from it's chest. If a human were to arrive on the sight, they would likely have died from the feeling of sheer rage and hatred flowing from the once-calm demon lord.  
  
"He said... to kill the human... who travels with two demons... a child, black hair, brown eyes, usually had her hair pulled to the side... He had Kanna show me... She was to die if he did..." It was final. Sesshoumaru let his demon instincts take over, ripping the demon's head from his body with his teeth, the poison still drizzling onto any possible pieces of flesh.  
  
Without bothering to calm down and transform back to his humanoid shape, the victor ran to where the other scent of Rin's blood had been coming from. He arrived to his worst nightmare.  
  
There was a tree nearby, and both Rin and his niece were wrapped in the roots of it, Rin more enveloped than Kai. But the main difference was the flames covering the tree and it's odd roots. Rin was almost in the center of the blaze, her body being burned so as to keep her from being revived. He didn't give a second thought to the vines littering the ground as he tried to get to his pup, only to be blasted back by a barrier. He could not pass. The only one who could would have to be Kagome, or perhaps... Kai.  
  
He spun around to find his niece being covered more tightly by the odd tentacle-like vines, the fire rapidly advancing on her prone form, singeing her white hair and claws. He growled and looked back at his adopted daughter, her body almost completely destroyed. He tilted his head back and howled in frustration, only to hear a soft echoing howl, more in desperation and pain. Looking back to the ground, he noticed that Kai was still alive!!  
  
He quickly sliced through the vines with his teeth, wishing yet again he had two paws, as he could now smell her fear and hear the soft whimpers she made. Growling, he lifted her by the back of her kimono, and headed towards Inuyasha's village, glancing back once or twice at Rin's slowly fading form. He had lost her. He had made the wrong choice at that split in the paths, and now she was gone, lost to him, forever.  
  
When he finally arrived at the home of his half-brother and their family, the entire village began to run away from his bloody, burned body, and the semi-charred girl in his teeth. Inuyasha and Kagome flew towards him, only to have to stop and leap up to catch Kai as he released her. As her mother looked her over for injuries, Inuyasha stared at his older brother, who seemed to be in shock or pain.  
  
The young demoness finally began to stir, coughing from the smoke that had been inhaled, and so Sesshoumaru had turned to go. But he had been stopped. Not only by Inuyasha, but also by their two human friends, and a group of children, some demons, some not. He had begun to stride by them as best he could on three legs, only to stop at the sound of a weak girl's voice, begging him not to go. He could not deny her. As much as he wished to go mourn, she was pleading for him to stay. Kagome agreed with her daughter, asking for the demon lord to stay, even if it was just long enough to be bandaged up.  
  
But even though he stayed, he did not leave his demon form. He sat there, looking very much like an over-grown dog that had been kicked by his beloved master. And he practically had. The one person who had been there the longest, the fearless human child who had helped him when he was almost dead, was gone. And he had not been there to help her.  
  
Finally, he had been pulled from his despair by a certain young pup, who, like the girl in his thoughts, persisted on helping him, even when he growled at them to leave him alone. He had been surprised at that sight, a small pup walking slowly out to him, her muzzle almost touching the ground as she hung her head low, her tail dragging the ground. He had never seen Kai's demon form, but he was amazed to see it now.  
  
Then, like any dog begging forgiveness, she lay at his feet, her head on her front paws and her eyes downcast in a show of inferiority. And she had whimpered, and she had whined, and she had given one or two small, sad yips. At least, that's what the humans heard. Anyone who could understand the ancient language that was in each dog-demon's blood heard the sounds for what they were. An explanation.  
  
"I'm sorry, Uncle Sesshoumaru... I wasn't fast enough... I wasn't strong enough... I got there, and the fire hadn't spread much yet, and I knew that you could save her, even though she didn't have her left arm anymore. Then... those things got me... They wrapped around my legs and held me down." She began to cry now, which was odd to see since dogs didn't have the tear-ducts a human did. But she still sobbed, and went on with her self-blame. "I should have fought harder, Uncle Sesshoumaru. I should have gotten there faster. I should have not allowed myself to be caught... I'm sorry, Sesshou... I'm so so sorry..." And with that, the only other person to truly love him, leapt up and ran into the woods, planning on changing back to her human form so she could cry, both for herself and for him, the demon who was unable to weep.  
  
No matter how much he wanted to.  
  
After Kai's disappearance, Sesshoumaru's sadness and shock at his niece's guilt caused him to fade slowly back to his humanoid body without his notice. But even though he didn't pay attention to this, his half- brother did. He knew what had happened. Kai had told him and Kagome everything while she was being healed, even about her lessons. Her self- loathing had grown so strong she had changed into a tiny version of Sesshoumaru, no larger than a normal horse, reminding them again how young she truly was. And Inuyasha had heard her confession to his brother, then watched as his six-year-old daughter fled, her tail actually tucked low.  
  
The half-demon sat next to his brother, never feeling more like a family than he did now. He could sense the sorrow emanating from the stoic man, and for once could actually see it in his face. Before he could realize what he was doing, Inuyasha found himself trying to comfort the person who had tried to kill him repeatedly, resting a hand on his shoulder. Gold eyes met gold, both filled with sorrow, and one pair swimming in guilt and anguish.  
  
Quietly, Sesshoumaru told Inuyasha about finding the burning village, and the laughing demon that had mentioned Naraku's 'insurance policy'. When he told of the tree, though, and the demon's mention of "illusory death," the hand on his shoulder had tightened slightly. At Sesshoumaru's silent gaze, Inuyasha told him what he knew of those roots which showed one's worst fears and greatest pains, causing total despair before killing them. He told of Miroku's vision of being drawn in by his air rip, Shippou's dream of losing his only family, and his own of being killed yet again by Kikyo. Then, in true Inuyasha fashion, he spoke without thinking.  
  
"If Kai was wrapped in those roots, then that means..." He barely caught himself from blurting out the whole sentence, but a glance in Sesshoumaru's direction showed him a different person than he had ever seen. He was not crying, he couldn't cry, but his entire face was etched in pain. The youkai tried to stand, but was firmly denied such freedom as his half-brother called to Kagome, who ran over with supplies to help the proud demon.  
  
They were silent until the miko sent her mate to fetch the man called "Miroku", saying she wished to speak to him soon. With a nod, the hanyou fled the scene, leaving his wife with his brother. She had spoken to him softly, telling him that even though she knew he blamed himself, he shouldn't, and that many different pieces were what made up a whole. She tried to soothe him, but he still felt as though he didn't fulfill his role as father-figure, and he still hurt from the loss of his surrogate pup. He began to fall back into his grief again, only to be stopped by the woman's next words.  
  
"I'm finished bandaging you. If you'll forgive me, I have to leave you now. My daughter is out in the woods alone, and even though I know she's an amazing fighter, I would feel a lot better if she would have taken her sword, at least." His head snapped up, his eyes wide. 'She left her sword...?' The thought raced through his brain, blocking out his pain with his fear of losing the only other person who really cared. Leaping up, he raced into the woods, following her scent.  
  
What ensued when he found her was one of the few arguments she truly had with him, one where she screamed and raged, tears streaming down her face and her fangs cutting her lower lip as she tried to stop them. They had only stopped when he had finally been unable to handle her pain and her hatred of herself, and had sped to her side, lifting her onto his lap and wrapping his arm and tail around her in his first actual hug since he was a pup, holding her tiny shaking body close to him as she sobbed into his chest, saying she didn't deserve to be his student, let alone his niece.  
  
He found himself repeating her mother's words to her, about how many pieces form a whole. Finally, they had reached an agreement. He would not hate himself, and neither would she. Only a single piece had been from them. One piece had been Rin herself, when she decided to help the village. But... Naraku held the other pieces. Even in death, he tormented them. He had sent the demon after Rin. He had created the tree of illusory death. He had probably been the one to command Rin's body to be burned, in order to keep Sesshoumaru from bringing her back.  
  
Sesshoumaru decided that if Kai didn't need him now, he would have killed himself and followed Naraku into hell, even if it was to make sure he could torture and kill the bastard over and over again. But the pup in his arms kept him from doing so. Her tears, her guilt, made him stay. His love for her held him there.  
  
They were both later found sleeping under the God Tree, Kai still wrapped up in the demon lord's tail and arm, her head on his chest.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Now he felt that same head resting on his shoulder, and two hands smaller than his enveloping his own. He finally turned to look at his niece, and did something he hadn't done in a long time. He wrapped his tail around her, then rested his arm across her shoulders, pulling her close to let her lean against him. He didn't care if everyone saw now. The memory was still fresh in his mind, and he knew that she was remembering as well.  
  
And so, like they had 500 years ago, they fell asleep resting against each other, comforting each other and sharing their strength and their pain.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Oh wow... No offense, but can we say ANGST?! I hadn't planned on it being like this. Not nearly this long, at least. But now you know why Sesshoumaru hates Naraku so much. And in the next chapter, I PROMISE you'll meet Sango and Miroku's reincarnations!! Muahahaha! And I'll see if I can't find a way to fit Rin's reincarnation into this... well, feel free to review!! 


	23. Meet the Parents

Hey everyone!! I'm so so so so so so so so sorry it took so long to update! My friend and I took a road trip to see my brother, and it's a 6 hour drive there and back, so we ended up spending the night. Don't hate me! Please!!  
  
And for fear of my life, I've placed the reincarnations in here! I was being threatened, so I figured I should. If you don't like them, I'm sorry!! Wish I could help, but the majority voted for reincarnations, so here they are!  
  
Plus, I've been updating my website MAJORLY. Please stop by, and tell me what you think!!  
  
Here's your chapter, and they're still not mine!!  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 23 Meet the Parents  
  
Sarah groaned in annoyance as she watched her husband's eyes follow the curvy brunette who walked past them, offering drinks to the passengers. In her usual fashion, she drew back her left hand and held it, poised and ready, for when he did something he knew he shouldn't.  
  
Her poor perverted husband, Mark, was busy watching the stewardess, and promptly forgot that his wife was there, and went back to the way he had been in high school and in college. He had always been faithful, but old habits are hard to break, especially when those habits had to do with dares, girls, and embarrassing questions. He had done the same thing to his wife when they met so long ago, and now, even with a teenage son, he still would occasionally ask 'the question' to beautiful women, more a joke and conversation starter than anything else. But he recognized the stewardess. He had gone to high school with her older sister, and she had been one of the first to hear his question, and one of the first to slap the crap out of him.  
  
"Excuse me, miss." Sarah could feel her eyebrow twitch as she readied her arm. Mark was now holding the woman's hand and looking at her happily. "I was just wondering if someone with your exquisite beauty would be so kind as to do me the honor of -"  
  
"Bearing your child, I know." Renee smiled as she looked at her sister's high school friend. Then she saw the look of shock on the woman next to him, and the raised hand. 'Hm. She must know Mark well. Must be his wife. Good choice, she might be able to keep him in line.'  
  
Said wife was looking back and forth between her grinning husband and the smiling attendant. She opened her mouth to speak, but the stewardess broke the silence first. "Nice to see you again, Mark. I see you haven't changed any since high school. How have you been these past what? 15 years?"  
  
"I've been just fine. I'm married now, and I have a son whom we're actually on our way to find." The man smiled calmly as he remembered his wife, turning around to see the ready hand waiting for a good view of his face. Quickly, before she could give her customary slap, Mark wrapped his hand around her wrist and smiled lovingly at her. "Dear, this is Renee, her older sister Marie used to go to high school with me. And of course, any time my friend Shaun would go see Marie, I visited with our beautiful young woman here." He smiled innocently, hoping his wife wouldn't be upset still.  
  
Lucky for him, introductions were cut short as the young stewardess went back to work, preparing for them to land. Mark and Sarah began to focus on their reason for coming again, faces blank as they tried to figure out where David could have gone, and with whom.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Kaedo looked over to where his sister and uncle slept, her wrapped up in his tail in a comforting gesture. He could feel the pain radiating off of them, and while he wasn't one hundred percent certain what they were thinking of, he guessed it was the time they had arrived at the village, and Kai's lessons had been revealed, along with Rin's death. He had been upset, but he could tell it hurt those two a lot more, for some reason.  
  
Sighing, he looked over at his parents, who were leaning over the stranger's prone form, a growl emitting from Inuyasha every now and then. The mood in the hotel room had become wholly depressing and boring. Taisho was even reserved, sitting on the couch with his chin on his hand as he waited for something to happen. The two young demons made eye contact, then glanced over at the only two humans, other than the odd man.  
  
They had brought him back with them, and left the younger demons to carry him in, as Sesshoumaru carried a sleeping Kai, and Juro and Shippou were trying to figure out what had happened. The two humans, of course, were still commenting on the fight and the transformation of the demon siblings. This almost caused Kaedo to grin as he remembered some of the things he said, but the look on both Sesshoumaru and Kai's faces sobered him up quickly.  
  
Kaedo finally decided that the youngest 4, himself included, would go to David's grandmother's home to check in, and let her know that her grandson was still alive. They quickly asked their parent's permission, only to race out the door, each carrying a human on his back, the moment the two hanyou's heads had nodded.  
  
They had no idea how much trouble they were about to get into.  
  
~~*~~  
  
The um... happy... couple made their way to Mark's mother's home, where David was supposed to have been staying before he disappeared. The husband of the pair now had the phone number and address where he could get in touch with his old friend and her elder sister. He didn't realize how old he was until he saw the girl from so long ago grown into a woman.  
  
Sarah was busy cooling off, and almost didn't notice the blurs speeding above the streets until they passed over their rented car. Her eyes widened, and she slammed on the brakes at the sight. Her jaw joined her husband's on the floorboard when she caught a glimpse of a VERY familiar t- shirt. With a growl, she slammed her foot down on the accelerator, and raced after the speeding figures, which stopped directly in front of her mother-in-law's house.  
  
Sure enough, a wind-blown David was leaping off of the back of another boy, one with white hair, oddly, along with another 2 boys. But at that moment, she didn't really care. There was her son, whom she had worried about, grinning like the Mad Hatter as he leapt into the air before he noticed the car pulling up next to him.  
  
By this time, Mark had already recognized his son, and was trying to figure out how to reprimand him. He never got the chance, though, as the car lurched into park, and his wife was already out the door and growling angrily at their child.  
  
"DAVID ANDREW..."  
  
~~*~~  
  
Souta watched as his new friend gulped and turned to nervously face the woman who glared at him, not noticing the way Taisho and Kaedo were looking at her, as though trying to figure something out. He could tell David was in trouble, as he had been called by his full name. He tried not to grin as he thought of Kai and Taisho's reaction to their full names.  
  
The movement of a man behind the angry woman drew Souta's attention back to the present, and now he could see his nephews' looks of curiosity aimed at these two. But Dave's next statement was enough to shock the family members all around.  
  
"Hi Mom! Hey Dad! You would not BELIEVE what we've been doing!!" Souta could hear the forced cheer, but he knew that now a LOT of explaining was in order. Sighing, he stepped forward to introduce himself and his nephews, one of whom was nudging his younger brother and whispering so softly that only another dog demon could pick it up.  
  
"Hi, I'm Souta, it's a pleasure to meet you. Although I'm guessing the people you want to talk to are the um... adults." He wasn't stupid. He knew that, based on age alone, Kaedo and Taisho were more adults than these two before them, except for their maturity level. Therefore, he knew he had to get them back to Kagome or at least Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha was almost as bad as his sons, and wouldn't be much help.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Inuyasha glared at the stretched out man who looked so much like his most hated enemy. At first, he had been surprised to see his brother walk into the room with the usually powerful, vivacious demoness unconscious in his arms, but when his younger sons walked in carrying the Naraku look-alike...  
  
He growled softly again as he felt the old rage that always came with the thought of the evil hanyou. It took Kagome's insistence, a barrier placed by Kagome, and a bunch of Ramen to drag the male hanyou away from his thoughts and his potential enemy, who was laid out on the floor, since none of them wanted the smell in their beds or on the couch.  
  
Finally, the two pensive hanyous were drawn away from their study of the familiar man by the sounds of their younger sons coming to the door, along with the two humans, but also with two new humans. He glanced at a ready Kagome, to a sleeping Sesshoumaru and Kai, and finally to the other two demons in the room, who were currently slipping off to join the others in sleep.  
  
Growling low in frustration, Inuyasha waited for the door to open, only to get the biggest shock of the day as he saw the faces of the two new humans. He only heard Kagome whisper two words before promptly passing out, leaving him seconds to catch her before she fell in front of the black- haired, blue-eyed man, and the black-haired, brown-eyed woman with the ponytail.  
  
He understood what Kagome had said, however, and he had to agree that the similarities were uncanny.  
  
"Sango... Miroku..."  
  
~~*~~  
  
Mark and Sarah watched in shock as the woman with dog-ears and a white streak in her black hair fainted into the arms of a man with pure white hair like Taisho's. They had been trying to get used to the idea of the 2 boys being demons the entire drive over, but it had still been hard to believe. Now, they were beginning to wonder why they had doubted.  
  
Mark watched as the man carried the lovely young woman into the bedroom, and returned moments later alone. 'Must have decided to let her rest, rather than try to wake her up... that was nice of him...' He looked over at the two men sleeping on the couch, both sitting up but with their heads leaned into their hands, one with black hair and dog-ears, and the other with red-orange hair, and elfin-like ears. A look in the other direction showed a sleeping man with long, silvery-white hair and two red stripes on each cheek, like Kaedo and Taisho, and the sleeping black-haired man, only this man had a blue crescent moon on his forehead; and he had a young woman in his lap, with the same color and length hair, looking a lot like him, but with three blue stripes rather than the customary two. And while the man also had the elfin ears, the woman had dog-ears perched on her head, twitching slightly.  
  
Finally, he looked to the man dressed mostly in black, with long black hair, lying in the middle of the room. He didn't understand the feeling of anger and hatred that surged through him at the sight of him, but he could feel his wife tense up behind him as she stared in the same direction.  
  
He looked to the first white-haired man, who was watching them intently. Finally, he asked the question that the two boys had been unable to answer clearly enough for him.  
  
"What are you, exactly?" The man sighed at this, and shook his head.  
  
"My name is Inuyasha, and the woman who just fainted is my ma- um, my wife, Kagome. Those two boys with you are my sons, and the one without dog-ears is Kagome's younger brother. The black-haired sleeping beauty over there is my other son, Juro, and the redhead is Shippou, while the white-haired man and girl are my brother, Sesshoumaru, and my daughter, Kai. And finally, the bastard sleeping in the middle of the room, well, we don't know, we're waiting for him to wake up. Kagome and I are inu-hanyous, the kids are inu-youkai, as is my brother, only he's also a Taiyoukai, and Shippou is a kitsune."  
  
Mark and Sarah just stared at him, blank looks on their faces. Well, they knew the names, but what the hell were 'inu-hanyous', 'inu-youkai', 'kitsune', and especially (in Mark's opinion), 'Taiyoukai'. This was more important to the father simply because it struck him as slightly familiar.  
  
Another sigh came from the white-haired man, Inuyasha, and he tried to explain better. "Okay. Youkai has no direct translation to English, so most people just say 'demon'. Anyway, Kagome and I are half dog-demons. 'Inu' means 'dog', so a hanyou is a half-demon, and the others, the inu- youkai, are full-blooded dog-demons. A kitsune is a fox demon, and a Taiyoukai is a 'High demon'. In this case, Sesshoumaru is the Lord of the Western Lands, even if his claim isn't recognized by the people anymore."  
  
While Sarah began to ask about Sesshoumaru, and whether or not he was THE Sesshoumaru, the famous businessman, Mark did what he did best. He studied the people, and especially the sleeping girl, Kai. She seemed familiar, and the sadness on her face made him want to help her.  
  
'Taiyoukai...' The word just kept repeating in his head, but he couldn't think of where he could have heard it before. 'Tai... youkai...' He was hoping that if he broke it down into smaller parts, he might figure out what was so familiar about it. 'Tai... you...' 'Kai!' His eyes widened as he heard a tiny child's voice in the back of his head giggle happily.  
  
The human took another step closer to the sorrowful girl, focusing on the blue stripes unintentionally as the word rang through his head again. 'Tai... you...' 'Kai!!' His eyes widened slightly. The voice had been stronger this time, though just as young and joyful. He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing with all his strength on that tiny girl's voice.  
  
'Tai... you...' 'KAI!' In his mind's eye, he saw a flash of bright blue eyes, along with a slight frame of pure white, which could only be the child's hair. 'Tai... you...' 'KAI!' Another flash, and he finally could see the full picture. A tiny girl was sitting in front of him, only his hair was longer, and pulled into a short ponytail, and he was wearing black and purple robes, like none he had ever seen before. But the girl was giggling happily, clapping her small hands.  
  
She had blue eyes, white hair, and three blue stripes on each tiny cheek. And he was smiling at her, and saying proudly, "You could one day be powerful enough to become a Taiyoukai! Can you say that? 'Taiyoukai'? Just try, little one. Go slowly. See? Tai... you..." "Kai!!" She began to laugh then, bouncing happily, and he merely grinned at her antics. "Well, you have one syllable down. I guess we can work from there, eh, Kai?"  
  
'Tai... you...' His eyes flew open and his jaw fell slack. "KAI?!?!" As Mark watched, the woman's head snapped up, and she opened up bright blue eyes that he had just seen in the face of a baby.  
  
"What's the matter? Did someone call me?"  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Well! Seems Mark here has remembered a piece of his past, but what will it take to jar Sarah's memories of being Sango? (And for all you people who think it was weird for me to give them names closer to their previous incarnations... Kikyou, Kagome. Same letter beginning, etc. Bet you can guess who Renee is? Also, If it's been 15 years for them, I'm gonna say Renee is about 25 years old. Her older sister was in high school with them, not her!! Hehehe. Well, please review!! 


	24. Do You Remember Me?

Hey everyone!! I'm sorry it took so long to put this chapter out!!! But you all still love me, right? I have a reason for being late!!!! A very good reason, thank you! It's called friends coming over, getting 2 new DVD's of Inuyasha, plus a Shonen Jump magazine.  
  
(recommend it, especially Shaman King and DEFINITELY Naruto!! Naruto was once a 9-tailed fox demon who destroyed a village, only to finally be sealed away inside the body of a new-born child, who grew up to be hated by just about everyone for what was inside him. A lot like Inuyasha: "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! What I like is Instant Cup Ramen! What I like even better is when Master Ikura treats me to Ramen at the Ichiraku Noodle Bar!! What I hate is the 3 minute wait after I pour in the boiling water." Although One Piece is good, too..... My fav character in it is Roronoa Zoro, who fights with 3 swords! And yes, at the same time. He clamps the 3rd in his teeth... it's cool!!)  
  
Then add in the website, and reading stories, writing my first lemon (which has 4 chapters, if you want the site, you have to either email me or review me asking, or check out my website under 'fanfics'.)  
  
Well, enjoy!! And they're still not mine!!  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Ch. 24 Do You Remember Me?  
  
Kai's eyes flew open the moment someone called her name, and her movement caused Sesshoumaru to wake up, although the yell had awoken all the demons, and now they were each staring at the two familiar people at the door.  
  
None of them could believe it. The man and woman looked so much like Miroku and Sango it hurt to look at their confused faces. But the man was staring directly at Kai with wide eyes and a slack jaw. The young demoness merely blinked back at him, a slow smile spreading across her features. Finally, she leapt from Sesshoumaru's lap and rocketed for the man she remembered as an uncle, wrapping her arms around his torso as she laughed.  
  
"Miroku!!!" She hugged him gently, reminding herself of his human weakness. Drawing in a deep breath, Kai tried to find the scent that was uniquely her uncle, but was only able to catch a faint scent of him, blended with that of this man.  
  
The inu-youkai released the man and looked him directly in the eyes, catching a faint trace of recognition, but blended with curiosity and shock. Blushing slightly, she avoided everyone's eyes and asked, "You're not Miroku, are you?" When he shook his head, her smile practically disappeared. She looked over to the woman she remembered as an aunt. "And you're not Sango, are you?" Another no. Sadly, she walked back over to her uncle and sensei, her tail for once drooping low enough to drag on the ground, while her ears lay flat against her head.  
  
Sesshoumaru opened his arms to his niece and couldn't help but feel pained by the dejected look in her eyes. He hated ever seeing her sad or hurt, and so hugged her to him while he asked them what was on everyone's minds.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
Shippou couldn't get over the shock of seeing the look-alikes of his old friends, but his heart hurt more at the obvious sadness on Kai's face. He knew she, like her mother, loved deeply, and had adored her makeshift family. At Sesshoumaru's question, though, he turned to face the confused humans.  
  
"Um, My name is Mark, and this is my wife, Sarah. David there, is our son." Everyone now turned to look at the young human who was blushing faintly, and silence filled the room. That is, until Kai turned to look at them again.  
  
"You said my name, though. How did you know me??" Had everyone's attention not already been focused on the confused couple, they would have been now. But before Mark could answer the woman's question, the first woman, with the white streak in her black hair, spoke up from her spot next to Inuyasha, where she had apparently appeared only moments before.  
  
"Reincarnations," she whispered, looking at the couple. "They're Miroku and Sango's reincarnations." Now she began to grin. "About time. I was thinking I was the only reincarnated person out of the lot of us." A couple of them laughed, but Mark and Sarah just continued to stare at her. Finally, she walked over to the woman who used to be her best friend and looked her directly in the eyes. "You used to be Sango. I knew you very well. Do you remember me?"  
  
Sarah felt a spark of recognition, but even though she knew this woman's name, she couldn't place why her mind wouldn't connect the face and name together. Her brain just kept refusing.  
  
Kagome nodded at the confused look sadly, then turned to Shippou. "Shippou, you remember Kirara, I'm sure?" The kitsune nodded and closed his eyes, placing a small leaf on his head as he concentrated. Moments later, after a puff of smoke, everyone turned to see a tiny yellow kitten with black stripes, two tails, and red eyes. Sarah felt an almost painful lurch in her heart, and watched as the kitten was surrounded by flames and grew into a huge saber-toothed cat, large enough for two or three people to ride comfortably on its back. In fact...  
  
Sarah closed her eyes and thought for a second, wondering at the feeling she received when she saw that cat, and why it made her want to climb up on it's shoulders, dig her hands into it's fur, and fly off to wherever she wished. For that matter, how did she know it could fly??? This thought triggered a lost and long-forgotten memory of herself, in black and pink armor, sitting on the back of this creature, with Mark sitting behind her, only with slightly longer hair, and wearing black and purple robes, with what looked like a tiny boy with red hair and a cream- colored tail sitting on his shoulder. In her memory, she looked down to see a man with long white hair, dressed completely in red, running at a speed that shocked her. And there, on his back, was a young woman wearing a green and white sailor outfit, who glanced up at that moment and waved to her happily. Sarah couldn't help but smile at this, a thought running unbidden through her head. 'Always the optimist...'  
  
Her eyes snapped open and focused back on the young woman before her, taking in the same black hair, but with a white streak, and blue eyes with a different shaped pupil, but held the same warmth and happiness. A smile crept on the human woman's face as she spoke. "You always WERE the optimist, weren't you, Kagome? Although I don't know how you could do it running around in that sailor outfit of yours." She was unable to finish as a black and white blur toppled into her.  
  
Laughing as Kagome clung onto her best friend from so long ago, Inuyasha decided that perhaps it would be time to eat soon. 'Yeah,' he thought as his stomach growled, 'soon would be good. Now would be better. Now let's see... where did I put that Ramen??'  
  
~~*~~  
  
Everyone stopped from their reminiscing, one or two still with noodles hanging out of their mouths, namely Inuyasha and Shippou. They all turned to stare at what had distracted them, a few growls erupting from the old shard-hunters, and one upset demoness. Mark and Sarah had asked, of course, why there was a man laying in the middle of the floor, and why Sesshoumaru kept looking at him as though he wanted nothing other than to kill him. Slowly. With lots of pain. And Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippou had told them. That, combined with their memories, was enough to stare at the waking man scornfully.  
  
Of course, Ayasuke had absolutely no idea where he was. Memories of huge dogs and people fighting with swords came to mind, and his eyes flew open at the realization of just where he could possibly be, and how he got there. Turning his head towards what he now recognized as soft growls and the smell of instant Ramen, his gaze met that of 2 hanyous, 4 humans, and 6 demons. Not that he knew all that, no, he just saw a group of messed-up people, hanging out with more possibly messed-up people. And the looks they were giving him were none-too-friendly. Then he saw the most familiar faces out of the bunch, even more familiar than Sesshoumaru's or the white- haired woman.  
  
The two people's faces hung in his mind, taunting him mercilessly, and causing some part of his soul to scream in rage. One was a white- haired young man with dog ears, but no tail, that Ayasuke could have sworn he had seen in a dream of his once, wearing all red and swinging a huge sword. But the woman next to him, with a certain dog-eared man's arm wrapped possessively around her waist, made the raging part of his soul growl in hatred and annoyance, but he couldn't tell if it was directed towards the woman or himself.  
  
What he didn't realize was during this time, his eyes were slowly changing color, closer to red than anything else. This of course, caused the man with the white hair and dog-ears to stand up, pulling the dark- haired woman behind him. Sesshoumaru, of course, stood as well, only he remained still, his anger rolling off of him in waves strong enough to make Ayasuke come back to earth.  
  
"Where am I, why am I here, and who are you people?! And for that matter, WHAT are you people?! You look like that half-demon or whatever that ma said fought my ancestor a long time ago." NOW he had everyone's attention. But rather than have his questions answered, the young demon with black hair and gold eyes stepped forward.  
  
"I believe you dropped these." With that, a pair of binoculars, a camera, and a few pictures fluttered down to rest on Ayasuke's lap. Actually, the pictures fluttered, everything else just fell and hit him in a pretty sensitive spot, making him curl up into a ball in pain. 'Damn it, that was a professional camera, so it had to be all big and crap!' Well, he was hurting for it now, wasn't he?  
  
"Naraku! What kind of f***** up shit are you trying to pull now!?" *WHAP!* "OW! Kagome?! What was that for?!" The demons all sighed and shook their heads, writing him off as a hopeless case. After 500 years, he had almost begun to revert to the arrogant, violent, rude hanyou that was first freed from the tree by Kagome.  
  
"Listen, my name's not Naraku, but if you don't let me out of here now, I swear on my father's grave that I will make sure that EVERYONE knows about you, you dog-eared freaks!" Uh oh. Ayasuke had no clue that he had just pushed one of Inuyasha's buttons that the others tried so hard to avoid, afraid he would change completely back to the half-demon they knew from so long ago.  
  
"Idiot! You look just like him!! Who the hell else are you supposed to be, huh?! Some messed up, sorry excuse for a - " Inuyasha was cut off by Sesshoumaru, oddly enough, who slapped him in the back of the head. Hard. Hard enough for the unsuspecting hanyou to hit the opposite wall and leave a nice impression in it. Cracks included free of charge.  
  
Ayasuke stared, wide eyed, at THIS display of strength. Every time he thought he knew it all, they did something like this, which made him just ITCH for a video camera. Blackmail at its best. He was brought from his musings though, when a cold touch under his chin brought him back to reality. There, standing before him with the tip of a sword pressed against Ayasuke's throat, was the youngest of the odd group, as far as he could tell. There were still 2 younger than him, but this one, with black hair, blue eyes that currently resembled a blend of ice and steel, dog-ears and a tail was threatening him silently.  
  
As the hanyou-reincarnate simply stared in shock, along with almost everyone else in the room, a silver-haired, golden-eyed, dog-eared and tailed boy stepped forward, a cold mask covering everything but the hatred in his eyes. He didn't know how odd this was, but everyone with demon blood, and Souta, knew. Kaedo the Kind and Taisho the Mischievous were both DEADLY serious, and were practically radiating hatred towards the man still curled up on the ground, his head being tilted back by Kaedo's sword.  
  
Sesshoumaru merely raised an eyebrow, his own cold, indifferent mask in place, as was his pupil's, who was currently standing next to him, her hand straying to the sword she had placed at her hip after their fight, not wanting to separate from it. Even Juro had his sword ready to be drawn. It had been hell getting them past security and customs, but being a famous, wealthy businessman did have its perks. Speaking of which, he had to remember to dismember Jaken for making them fly on something other than a private plane in the first place.  
  
Coming back to the situation at hand, the Taiyoukai watched as his nephews stood before the look-alike of the evil hanyou. His eyes strayed to the two human adults present, wondering if perhaps, like them, Naraku had been reincarnated. If so, then they were in for a whole lot of trouble. No, wait, scratch that. Naraku's reincarnation was in for a whole lot of trouble. 500 years with nothing to do had made them train, and now Inuyasha could easily defeat the Sesshoumaru from 500 years ago. With Tetsusaiga, of course. The hanyou wasn't THAT good.  
  
Dave and Souta stared at the two laughing, light-hearted kids who had suddenly become merciless killers in an instant. Souta understood why, but David didn't know all of it, just what Inuyasha and the others had told him. He didn't know about Sesshoumaru and Kai's meeting with the tree of Illusory death. It was this, actually, that made the young demons hate Ayasuke/Naraku so much.  
  
Taisho growled as he looked down the edge of his brother's sword. The man had finally stopped whimpering like some kicked pup, and was looking up at them in complete fear and worry. This was NOT the notorious hanyou that had once mauled everyone's lives, and his sister's self- confidence.  
  
"Who. Are. You." He wanted to know who this man was, and why he looked like the monster from the stories his mother had once told him as a pup. The man cringed, and a faint trickle of blood was seen. Kaedo kept his blade sharp, apparently. 'The bastard's just lucky Kaedo hasn't made it transform yet. If he did it now, we'd have no answers.'  
  
Realizing this, Taisho slowly and cautiously lowered his brother's sword, glancing at him reassuringly before turned back to glare at the pathetic excuse for a man. "Well?" He asked on another growl. "Answer me!" He reached down to snarl at the man, only to get a huge whiff of fear, blood, and a pungent odor that made him want to gag. It WAS like his father said. A scent so corrupted by evil it hurt just to smell it.  
  
"M-My name's Ayas-s-suke. I'm a r-reporter. A ph-photographer." Apparently he seemed to gain some confidence then, because the frightened stutter began to fade, and his voice began to become stronger. "I saw what happened at the airport. I have pictures locked away for safekeeping. If anything happens to me, then my friend will make sure all of the world knows about you!"  
  
"Feh," a familiar voice cut in. "Half the world knows who we are already, stupid!" This cut through Ayasuke's brain painfully. He no longer had his bargaining chip. It was gone. Now his life rested in the hands of the people around him. That's when he heard a voice he didn't recognize, but somehow knew.  
  
'Kukuku... calm down, let me have some fun, and you'll still come out of this alive.' Not knowing what else to do, Ayasuke relaxed his body, surrendering to the person who spoke to his brain. Anything to get away from all of this alive and intact. He had no clue he had just made it worse.  
  
Much, much worse.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Well, not my grandest work, but hell, it's 12:55 in the morning!! Also, pardon my bad language, I don't know if it's listening to "Break Stuff" by Limp Bizkit so many times that made me like this, or if it's my natural 'I got 6 hours of sleep last night, and it looks like I'm getting the same tonight' attitude. Oh well. Please review!  
  
From Naruto:  
  
Sasuke: There's someone I've sworn... to kill.  
  
Naruto: (thinking) Sure hope it's not me... 


	25. Return of Naraku

Well, I'm back, and I know you missed me just OH SO MUCH! Anyways, on with the chapter!! I'm still writing this story, even though I'm not getting as many reviews now-a-days. And just when it's getting good! Well, onto the story!  
  
And they're still not mine!!  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Ch. 25 The Return of Naraku  
  
"David. Souta. Go into the extra bedroom and stay there, understand??" Juro looked over at the humans as he spoke to them. He wasn't sure Mark and Sarah could fight, but he knew that the kids couldn't. Souta was just learning! Although, he was being trained by demons, so he might be some help. But David, no.  
  
"No way am I missing this. You guys have had all the fun before now, now I want to help!" Golden eyes narrowed at his human uncle. He thought this was fun? Couldn't he feel the evil radiating off of this man? Couldn't he tell that the eyes were changing color, even his SCENT was changing, becoming more corrupt and dark than it had been before??? But the boy's face was set, and Juro couldn't help but remind himself that his own mother had fought demons, untrained, at the age of 15. But he needed a weapon.  
  
Inuyasha watched as his eldest son argued with his brother-in-law, then gave in. When Juro began to look around, though, the hanyou wondered what he was looking for. Then it hit him. Only him, Kagome, and the other demons were armed. It was instinct. They never went anywhere without their swords. Sesshoumaru had left Toukijin, though, but he still had his youki whip. His eyes widened as Kai stepped forward, handing her own sword to Souta. THIS he hadn't expected. She loved that sword, which he had learned was made from one of Sesshoumaru's claws. Souta and everyone else seemed just as surprised, until her hand began to glow, and her own youki whip appeared, glowing blue rather than the yellow-green of Sesshoumaru's.  
  
A soft "kukuku..." broke him from his thoughts, and they all turned to face the danger that had been destroyed 500 years ago in Feudal Japan, only to be revived in modern-day America.  
  
Naraku stood before them. Not the reincarnation of him, not the look- alike. The actual Naraku. The scent was the same, the feeling was the same, the red eyes shined at him with the same hatred and malice held towards himself as they had 500 years ago, when he had faced the evil hanyou, side-by-side with Sesshoumaru, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, and Kirara. He had to admit, though, that while Toukijin had been a great help in Sesshoumaru's hands (against Naraku, of course), the now-hanyou Kagome and the four children, plus a grown Shippou and a partially-trained Souta made up for it. More than made up for it.  
  
Juro's sword, the Himitsuchie ('Secret Wisdom'), was made from one of Inuyasha's own fangs, as was Taisho's sword, the Bushibishou ('Warrior Smile'). Kaedo's sword was made from one of Kagome's fangs, actually. They had been afraid to try and make a sword with one of Kai's fangs. No one would have been able to control the sword but Kai herself. Sesshoumaru wore Tenseiga, while Inuyasha himself still bore Tetsusaiga. Kagome's sword was made from Inuyasha's claws, and Shippou's was from his own fang. Having a friend like Toutousai had come in handy, after all.  
  
Now each of these swords was drawn, except for Tenseiga. Both Kai and Sesshoumaru had their whips ready, and Mark and Sarah were just staring, weaponless. Their best weapons were unavailable to them, and there wasn't much chance they could find a giant bone boomerang anywhere, nor a staff like the one Miroku had.  
  
"Mark, Sarah, I know a part of you wants to fight, and knows how, but you can't! You don't have Hiraikotsu or anything... You have to go hide with David! He's in the other room. Hurry!" Inuyasha turned his eyes back to the enemy, who was currently lost in his own reminiscing, and in sizing up the competition. Then Kai did something he had forgotten. He was so used to her hiding her energy, it almost surprised him when she released it, causing even Naraku himself to stumble backward in shock.  
  
'Who is this person?! She is a demon, but this much power is impossible! Not even Sesshoumaru was ever this strong!!' Naraku couldn't help but stare at the raging demoness before him, her eyes slowly beginning to turn red in what he recognized as blood-lust from when he had seen Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru become angry. He turned his red eyes to Sesshoumaru, only to notice that his power had increased, as well. In fact... they all had!! And the kitsune was grown now, adding more power to the already-strong group.  
  
Could he get out of this alive?? Yes, but it would mean running and possibly getting injured. And that was with his demon-formed body. This body was pure human. Well, with the exception of one or two drops of demon blood passed down from one of his 'children'. He was well and truly caught. Then noticed the humans who looked like Sango and the monk from so long ago. What was his name? Moku, or something? He remembered Sango's, since she HAD helped him for a very short time. But now they were both trying to creep away, where he guessed the owner of the young-human stench came from. His body may not have been that of a demon's, but his senses were still there.  
  
Listening with his now-sensitive ears, he heard a boy's mutterings in the room on the other side of the wall. He was a human, and obviously couldn't fight, if he had been forced to hide... Grinning back at the group of demons, he leapt at the wall, feeling the shirt and jacket on Ayasuke's body be ripped by a pair of stinging youki whips. He almost expected Inuyasha to try and attack with a Kaze no Kizu, but figured out he had been taught tactics by his elder brother in the past 500 years. Damn.  
  
The walls were thicker and stronger than the ones he had last had around him, and his new body was sore from the physical strain the hanyou soul was putting it through. But there was his prize. He grabbed the boy by the throat only seconds before the other demons ran into the room after him, pouring through the door rather than the rubble of a wall he had left behind. He wouldn't have had caught him in time, except the young human had apparently been trying to hear what was going on. Laughing cruelly at the pitiful faces of his old enemies, and even at his new ones, he leapt towards the glass, not caring how high off the ground they were.  
  
David hated being left out. But he had been sent into the other room, while Souta had been handed a sword. At first he had been jealous, then he had gotten the oddest feeling from the other room, and decided that perhaps it'd be best if he DIDN'T try to help out. But he wanted to know what was going on, dammit!  
  
With that thought, he ran over to the wall connecting the two rooms and pressed his ear against it. For a moment, there was pure silence, then the wall creaked underneath his head, and he had just enough time to jump out of the way as the man from earlier came leaping through it. 'What did Inuyasha call him? Oh yeah! Naraku!' The moment this registered, he realized he was already in the grip of the man he had been told ruined everyone's lives. He started to fight back, especially when the others came running into the room, swords drawn and anger practically radiating from them.  
  
Then the idiot with the red eyes had leapt out the 10th story window. And Dave made damn well sure that if he and Naraku made it out alive, one of them would be without eardrums.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"  
  
The demons still in the room winced as the scream reached their sensitive ears. Those who could flattened their ears to their heads in an effort to block out the sound. The others just had to live with it. But they all ran to the window and looked down in time to see a painful landing for an angry hanyou, a scared and pissed-off teenage human tucked under his arm before they both were lost into the crowd, taking off at a speed that must have shocked anyone who saw.  
  
Now, logic dictated that they go downstairs and out the front door. But, being Inuyasha's children, (or influenced some other way by the temperamental hanyou), they all hurriedly leapt out the window after the bastard who had just kidnapped their friend, the humans finding themselves tossed onto demon's backs. Mark was on Inuyasha's, Sarah on Kagome's, and Souta on Taisho's.  
  
They didn't really want to fight in public, but almost fell over in shock when people began to laugh and clap for them. Then they saw it. In the direction Naraku had taken off in, there was a parade. A circus parade, to be exact. Complete with the clowns, acrobats, and daredevils.  
  
Shippou almost laughed at the irony of it all as he followed the demon lord and his niece, running ahead of the hanyous and demon carrying the humans, with Kaedo and Juro in the rear, making sure there were no attacks from behind. Then he realized something. Their eyes and ears were showing. Their tails were in plain view. Swords and whips were put away for now, but claws were ready for a fight and fangs were bared.  
  
'Oh yeah. I guess that makes us the REAL circus, huh? Heh. Time to send in the clowns.'  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Okay, I know this chapter wasn't that great, and the ending of it kinda sucked, but hey! They're gonna fit next time!! And in PUBLIC!! So what do we do when 6 demons, 2 hanyous, and a human or three take on Naraku in the middle of the street?? You'll find out next time!! Bye for now, and remember to review!! 


	26. Fighting in the Streets

Hey everyone!! Sorry it took so long to update, but I've been REALLY busy with school... I hope you all forgive me!!  
  
Anyways, here's your next chapter, and I STILL don't own them... (do I REALLY have to keep saying this???)  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Ch. 26 Fighting in the Streets!!!  
  
Kaedo growled as he followed close to his parents and brothers. Kai and Sesshoumaru were running ahead, glaring angrily at the hanyou that continued to elude them. He just couldn't get it!! This bastard had been gone since before he was born!! Why was he back NOW?!  
  
He heard Shippou laugh quietly, and turned to look at the kitsune who was running next to Juro. The fox was watching the road, and Kaedo realized that they were racing through a circus parade. 'Oh great! The circus!! It's final! The world is against us...' But Shippou seemed to be somewhat pleased. Then it hit the youngest of the demons. 'Of course!! They'll all think we're just part of the act!! Nevermind, the world loves us after all!!'  
  
But when he caught David's yells of "PUT ME DOWN, YOU BASTARD," he decided to pick up the pace. Shutting everything out except for his objective, like he had been trained so long ago to do, Kaedo focused on the glimpses of human and hanyou racing through the crowd, and his brain sent more strength to his legs, forcing them to move faster. Everyone else must have thought the same, since soon only blurs of silver and black were visible as the group raced after the evil creature.  
  
One angry human sat on his nephew's back, gripping his niece's sword with one hand as he held Taisho's shoulder with the other. He couldn't see as well as they could, so he let the demons and hanyous lead the way. His long-time idol, Inuyasha, was almost directly behind the demon lord and Kai, who were doing an amazing job of staying in their human forms. He had been worried that they would have transformed into giant dogs before chasing after their hated enemy, but no, they kept a tight rein on the change in order to keep from harming any more humans.  
  
Then, even with the wind stinging his eyes, he saw the man with his new friend on his shoulder. They were close enough for HIM to see, so that meant, that the others were probably close enough to reach out and attack. Sure enough, any sheathed swords were being drawn, and a faint tinge of blue and yellow light around a pair of hands in the front became visible, warning anyone who would recognize that they were about to fight.  
  
Naraku sensed the energy of the powerful demons coming closer, and began to plan his escape, if necessary. He didn't have a weapon in this body, one formed without demon parts, and containing only a few drops of demon blood, and he hated it. Then he saw someone he WASN'T expecting.  
  
'KAGURA?!'  
  
~~*~~  
  
Arashi Ayasuke groaned as she walked down the street. She really SHOULDN'T have come looking for her brother. But her mom had insisted. She had said that Akuma had been asking about his ancestor, Naraku, and then asked about his scar. Why it mattered so much, she didn't know, nor could she care less. Akuma Ayasuke always got on her nerves, and she had been delighted when he had moved into the city. He tended to use blackmail against her, making her do his chores or homework in order to keep from anyone finding out about anything she had done wrong.  
  
And now, she was stuck in this stupid city, with the stupid circus going on around her, and some stupid guy running straight at her, holding onto a kid like a kidnapper. When the man stopped and stared at her, though, Arashi realized who it was.  
  
'Akuma?!'  
  
~~*~~  
  
David watched from his spot as Sesshoumaru and Kai dived into the man holding him, the Demon Lord's hand glowing green, and Kai delivering a swift kick to the back of the guy's knees before grabbing the human and jumping back to where his parents were.  
  
As he watched the woman that the Naraku guy had been staring at run up, Dave realized that a circle had begun to be formed around him, people cheering and laughing, thinking it was part of the circus show. 'Now I know why Taisho had called them 'stupid humans' that one time.' Shaking his head, he brushed off his parents' worried hands and looks, and took everything in, the angry hanyous and demons, the woman standing before Naraku with her hands on her hips, but also glaring at Sesshoumaru occasionally, who was growling deep in his throat.  
  
Inuyasha pulled out what seemed to be a rusty sword, but as the humans watched, the sword swelled and grew into a large fang-shaped deadly weapon. Dave knew HIS jaw was on the ground, and was surprised that his parents were looking almost bored.  
  
"Mom? Dad? Am I the only one freaked out by that HUGE FREAKING SWORD?!" Both of his parents nodded, which only served to scare him a bit. "And you two are okay with this WHY?!?!!"  
  
"Because, Miroku and Sango traveled with Inuyasha a long time ago. Since we remember bits and pieces of it, and some of the memories have that sword in it, it's not unusual. Just wait until you see the blade turn red." Mark smiled momentarily at his son before turning to watch the scene unfolding before him.  
  
She couldn't believe it. Kagome was staring at a woman who looked a LOT like Kagura, but she was staring at Naraku with brown eyes rather than red. After Inuyasha unsheathed Tetsusaiga, she drew her own sword, her miko powers purifying the blade just as she had done to her arrows so long ago. But the sight of so many reincarnations at the same time made her wary. Now all she needed was for Kouga, Kanna, and Ayame to show up, and they'd have it made!!  
  
"Don't even think it, Kagome. There's no way in hell that that wimpy wolf is gonna show up." She turned to stare at her hanyou mate, who was still glaring at the reincarnated evil before them, who was currently trying to convince the Kagura look-alike to help him fight against the former shard- hunters and their children. The former wind-demon just watched him skeptically, one eyebrow raised as she listened to his protests that his name was Naraku, and not Akuma, and that HER name was Kagura, not Arashi.  
  
"How did you know that's what she was thinking, Inuyasha?" Shippou was just as surprised at his hanyou friend's annoyed declaration. He heard the famous 'feh' from that same half-demon before he finally felt *ahem* kind enough to explain it to them, his eyes never leaving Naraku's now-glowering form.  
  
"Let's see. First Naraku, then Sango and Miroku, then Kagura? And then she gets all dazed, like she's thinking, and she starts grinning and looking around, who the hell else would it be?? Not Kanna, because Kagome wouldn't be happy to see her. That'd leave Kouga and his 'mate' Ayame." For a second, everyone was shocked at the apparent intelligence of the 600- year-old hanyou.  
  
Then all hell broke loose when Naraku attacked, aiming directly at the weakest people. The humans.  
  
~~*~~  
  
He. Hated. This. Crap.  
  
He was always the nice guy, the quiet guy, the guy who didn't fight as much as the rest. But they had forgotten that in the feudal age, he had been a damn good fighter in his own right. And now, he was watching as the person who made his family's lives miserable attacked his new friends. Sure, he hadn't known them long, but they reminded him of Sango and Miroku, and Dave was just, well, DAVE.  
  
Growling, Juro leapt forward and grabbed the hanyou before he could reach the human, golden eyes looking angrily into red ones. He barely even noticed that the woman who had been arguing with Naraku was now yelling at the angry demon for attacking her 'brother'. Ignoring her, he followed his sister's and Uncle's example, shoving his hand through the human/hanyou's chest, directly beneath his ribs.  
  
Now everyone was shocked. Juro had always been known as the more passive member of the family, yet here he was, fighting Naraku single-handedly. They were distracted only momentarily when Taisho and Kaedo blocked the Kagura look-alike from reaching their brother, both Sesshoumaru and Kai watching in a blend of surprise and amusement. Juro had actually dropped his sword on the ground before leaping at the hanyou, and was now proceeding to fight with his bare claws, making both Sesshoumaru and his niece feel slightly proud.  
  
The inu-youkai continued to attack, noting how weak Naraku was, now that he no longer had the Shikon shards to draw power from, nor his body of multiple demons. Scoffing silently at his opponent's weakness, he didn't see the clawed hand aimed for his throat until it was almost too late, and he tried to dodge the blow, only to end up with a slightly less severe wound in his neck. Unfortunately, as he quickly tried to recover from this wound, another slash came across his chest, exposing pink muscles and tendons before blood began to well up inside the cuts left behind by Naraku's claws.  
  
Juro growled angrily and watched as Inuyasha and Kagome leapt forward with Shippou, Kai, and Sesshoumaru, all glaring at the hanyou's smug look. The wounded demon kneeled as he tried to staunch the flow of blood with a clawed hand, not even bothering with the wound in his throat. Then Kai dropped into a crouch before him, placing her hand over his and looking at him worriedly.  
  
"Hey man, are you going to be okay? You going to live?" He grinned at her old joke, since he had once asked her that long ago, only to have her reply in a weak voice the same words he now repeated back to her.  
  
"'I don't die.'" He grinned. "No one in our family does, Kai. We're all too stubborn. I'll be fine. Get back to the fight." He caught his twin's derisive snort and followed her glance in the direction of a pair of pissed- off hanyous, one REALLY looking like he wanted to unleash his sword's ultimate attack, but held it in fear of injuring anyone else.  
  
Speaking of everyone else...  
  
The twins looked around at the cheering people, who were actually talking to themselves about the high-quality fake blood seeping from the gashes in both Juro's neck and chest. Baring her fangs in annoyance, Kai began to focus on the wounds beneath her and her brother's clawed fingers, pushing the battle between her family and their long-time enemy to the back of her mind. She closed her eyes and calmed her mind like her mother had taught her so long ago, and focused on a light in her mind which seemed welcoming and warm to her. Slowly, she pulled at it and pushed it in Juro's direction, speeding it down her arms and through her hands, where it would fuse into his blood and cause the wound to clot faster, therefore speeding up the healing process. Quickly, she used that same energy to create a small, thin shield over both wounds, in order to protect them from anything accidentally causing them to reopen.  
  
Slipping an arm around her brother's shoulders, she helped him to stand and watch the fight, since she didn't want to take a chance of him being wounded again. Besides, everyone seemed to be doing a good enough job without them.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Shippou felt Kai's energy flare, and glanced away from Naraku only long enough to see the two twins glowing faintly, the strongest of the blue aura focusing over her hands, where she was no doubt trying to heal her brother.  
  
After a quick appraisal of the situation, the kitsune turned back to the wounded man before them, hardly seeming like the same hanyou they fought so long ago. His speed and strength were that of a hanyou's, along with the claws, but without the shards or his demon-made body, he was defenseless. Especially against an enraged Kagome, Inuyasha, and Sesshoumaru. Knowing that these three had more reason to fight than he did, the fox turned to their small group of humans, Miroku and Sango's reincarnates.  
  
"Is everyone okay? I think Kai's doing some healing over there, so if any of you are hurt, now's the time to say it." After getting three quiet negatives, the youkai nodded and began to guide them to the duo anyway, knowing that they would be safer there. Then he turned to where Kagura, or Arashi, or whatever she was calling herself now, was facing off with Kaedo and Taisho, more a silent war of wills than a fight, heated whispers making Shippou curious enough to go and see for himself what was going on.  
  
"Che! You guys can beat him up all you want, but you can't kill him!! He's my brother!! Besides, if it's true that this 'Naraku' is in control of his body, then shouldn't you be more focused on getting him out than killing Akuma?!" Now the pair of younger demons stopped to trade surprised glances, and Shippou had to admit that it WOULD be wiser to do what the woman suggested. But how??  
  
Wait!! Midoriko was once said to be able to purify the demon blood out of a demon. So, shouldn't Kagome and Kai be able to? They could purify human blood to make the children youkai, so it should work the other way around, right?  
  
Couldn't hurt to try, although it might hurt him to try and stop THEM.  
  
"HEY!! Kagome!! Inuyasha!!! Sesshoumaru!! You can't kill him!!!" He tried to get their attention, but Inuyasha merely bit back with one of his usual remarks.  
  
"Sure we can! Here, I'll show you!! Kaze - " Shippou sped over to them, receiving a deep cut in the shoulder from Kagome's sword, which was dropped instantly in shock.  
  
"SHIPPOU!! Are you okay?!! I'm so sorry!!!" The kitsune brushed it off and faced two pairs of angry golden eyes, one starting to bleed red as his transformation into his dog shape began to take over.  
  
"Listen!! Arashi said we need to focus on killing NARAKU, not the guy whose body he's in!!" Inuyasha stared at him, somewhat confused, but the Demon Lord's eyes began to slip back into their cold golden color.  
  
"And how do you propose we do THAT, kit?!" Sesshoumaru snarled out, glaring at the wounded hanyou who was currently trying to find a way to escape.  
  
"Well, I haven't figured that out yet!!"  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Not the grandest of chapters, I'll admit, although I already have some plans for the next one. Don't kill me!! So, how do you think they're going to get Naraku out of Ayasuke?? Hehe... and for anyone who reads it, expect Ch. 8 of Everything's Changed to be up tomorrow!! I already have some of it written, and I'm about to get back to working on it... Until next time, ja ne!! 


	27. Back to Ayasuke, and Epilogue

Hey everyone!! Sorry I was gone for so long!! My brother came down for the weekend, and I got to spend time with him, then school got busy (and still is), AND!! I learned how to make AMV's (Anime music videos). I have 4 made, but my fav has to be the one I made for Sesshoumaru... hehe... Although I do like the one I made for Miroku and Sango...  
  
Well, here's your next chapter, and I still don't own them!!  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
Ch. 27 Back to Ayasuke  
  
They were at a standoff. Taisho and Kaedo were speaking hurriedly with Arashi, Kai and Juro were trying to make sure the humans were okay, and Shippou, Inuyasha, Kagome, and Sesshoumaru were facing off against Naraku, stuck in a human's body.  
  
Kagome was still apologizing for hurting Shippou, but the kitsune merely cut her off, asking if she could purify a person's demon blood from them.  
  
"I think so, but it would probably be pretty painful... Because then Naraku's blood would be gone, and that tiny part of his soul that made up Ayasuke's would be pulled away." Kagome looked at the fox demon while her mate and his brother kept the evil hanyou from escaping.  
  
"Well, we need you to try it. What do you need to do it?" They began to advance on the wounded half-demon that glared at them angrily.  
  
"I need his an open wound, that's all. And a way to know he won't try to kill me." Kagome smiled slightly and looked over to her own white-haired hanyou, who nodded and moved to grab one of Naraku's arms, while Sesshoumaru took the other. The young miko walked over to her worst enemy and placed one hand over the wound in his upper left arm, and another on the cut in his right shoulder. Focusing the energy that had once lain dormant inside her, Kagome concentrated on the thought of a human Ayasuke, clear and free of Naraku's taint.  
  
To him, though, it was torture unimaginable. The pain seemed to lance through him, starting at her palms and feeling like searing fire racing through his very blood, forcing him out of the body he was residing in. His eyes glowed red as the pain tore through him, finding everything that reeked of a youkai, and destroying it mercilessly. Naraku tried to pull away from the brothers who held him still, but the priestess' powers kept him from having enough strength to even put up a fight. He didn't care about any of the people watching as he screamed in pure agony, knowing that he was being purified. HIM! The most evil hanyou to have ever existed! Was being purified by another hanyou! A hanyou miko, no less!!  
  
The mere thought of the irony of it all made Naraku tip his head back and laugh insanely. He knew he was being eradicated from Ayasuke's body, and that the familiar spider-shaped mark on the human would fade with his disappearance, but this also made him uncaring towards others' thoughts of his sanity. Then that excruciatingly painful energy followed his bloodstream to his heart, purifying the organ and any blood that would later flow through it. Naraku's eyes glowed blood-red as he screamed again at the feeling of being ripped in half.  
  
Then, all was quiet.  
  
Everyone watched as red faded to a dark brown before those same eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and Ayasuke, not Naraku, passed out.  
  
~~*~~  
  
Inuyasha carried his mate away from the cheering crowd, many begging for pictures or autographs. He felt like snarling at each one until they backed off and left him and his love alone, but his children beat him to it, the four plus Souta forming a veritable circle around the hanyou and his wife, along with Sesshoumaru, Dave, Mark, and Sarah.  
  
Arashi was currently trying to awaken her brother in order to support him back to her apartment. Kaedo, being the naturally kind-hearted person he was, agreed to help after seeing the young woman struggle to bring the man to his feet. After a promise to meet his family back at their hotel, he lifted the woman onto his back and gathered her brother in his arms before taking off in the direction she indicated, intent on dropping off the former hanyou and returning home to hear what everyone had to say.  
  
Of course, the large crowd surrounding the family was too much for Taisho, who had been struggling NOT to do something that would make him worthy of his nickname. As he followed his father, who was carrying his mother and walking beside his brother, the Taiyoukai of the Western Lands, along with the reincarnations of some of their best friends and their son, the grandson of the powerful Demon Lord Inutaisho grinned broadly, attracting the attention of his nephew, twin siblings, and the kitsune he considered family.  
  
"Did you enjoy the show?" he yelled to the crowding audience, who pressed closer to the group as they cheered and clapped for them. "Well, we enjoyed performing it for you!!" He bowed dramatically, straightening as Dave walked over to him and slapped him jovially on the back.  
  
"Yeah, we're considering making it into a television series, or maybe a movie... but we weren't sure how the public would handle it..." Dave looked like he was going to say something else, but the noise of the crowd drowned him out and caused everyone with youkai hearing to wince and cover their ears, except for Inuyasha, who couldn't, and merely flattened his against his head.  
  
And though his ears were covered with a pair of clawed hands, Shippou couldn't help but seriously consider the young human's words. What WOULD a movie or television show about them be like??  
  
~~*~~  
  
2 years later...  
  
Inuyasha groaned as he watched the animated version of him was slammed to the ground in yet another 'sit' from the animated Kagome. With encouragement from Shippou and Dave, along with Souta and his children, who thought it would be interesting, they had found a female storywriter to tell their tale to. She had been delighted with what she heard, and immediately took up the task of writing up the story and publishing it, along with drawing the pictures of them, although Shippou had been forced back into his cub form to give her a good idea of the way he looked then, and Kagome had had to bring along a photo of her when she was 15.  
  
And now, a couple years later, the show Inu Yasha was popular in both Japan and America, as well as having some watchers in Great Britain and China. In fact, they were America now, since Dave had written about an anime convention going on in his hometown, and begged them to come and see just how many people liked their show.  
  
A laugh to his left pulled the hanyou from his thoughts, and he turned narrowed eyes on the kitsune who sat next to his daughter, pointing to the screen and laughing. The fox-demon must have realized his life was in danger, because he quieted down pretty quickly before muttering something to Kai, which made her grin and pass the message along. When it reached Taisho, he burst into his own laughing fit, making everyone turn to stare at him.  
  
"Dad, you were once hit in the head with a rock for seeing mom NAKED?!!" He collapsed in another fit of giggles while his hanyou parents blushed and tried to glare dangerously at the grinning youkai and humans.  
  
They were all saved from a painful fate as Dave ran into the room, telling them that he was ready to go to the convention now. He was wearing one of Kaedo's old kimonos and hakama. As he slipped on the haori he borrowed from his youkai friend, his parents came out in the clothing styled after those of their incarnates', looking very much like the Miroku and Sango of old.  
  
Hefting the large boomerang Kagome had told her once belonged to Sango, Sarah felt respect towards her incarnate and appreciation for her own strenuous training. She glared at her husband, who merely had to carry his monk's staff, and felt almost jealous until the small kitten leapt onto her shoulder, mewing happily. This creature made it all worthwhile. Her name was Kirara, and she had once been Sango's companion until her death. Now, she guarded the exterminator's reincarnate and her family with a fierce loyalty, despite her age. After a loud ride to the plaza where the convention was being held, the group exited their limos and stared in shock at the people around them. So many were dressed like Inuyasha or Kagome, with a few dressed as Sesshoumaru, Sango, or Miroku. They saw one or two toddlers dressed as Shippou, and a few toy cats that had the same dual tails as the fire-cat on Sarah's shoulder.  
  
They were greeted at the door by the organizer of the event, who complimented over the amazing realistic quality of their costumes.  
  
They had each worn what they used to. Well, except Kagome. She had dressed in a blue hakama and white kimono, looking almost like Kikyou, except she had been able to let her ears stay visible, as well as her eyes and claws. But Inuyasha was back in his fire-rat armor, and Sesshoumaru had put his white clothing and armor back on, his fluffy tail draped over his arm, and nothing hidden. The kids all wore their old clothing, happy to be able to walk around freely with their youkai characteristics showing, no matter that they were getting weird looks from some of the costumed characters, no doubt wondering who the four adults were supposed to be.  
  
While the group planned on where to meet up again later before they split up, Mark noticed someone he hadn't expected to see again.  
  
"Renee!" The group turned at the former-monk's yell, only to stop still, Sesshoumaru and Kai's faces paling quickly, at the sight of a grown-up version of Rin, smiling and talking happily to the humans in the group, who didn't realize that their demon companions had frozen.  
  
Kai took a shaky step towards the flight attendant, her eyes wide and her ears twitching at what she could hear.  
  
"Yeah, I just love this show!! I don't know why, but I just keep feeling like Sesshoumaru isn't as cold-hearted as the show portrays him. Silly, huh?" As she blushed, Kai swallowed thickly and looked at the woman whom she had once watched die as a child, unable to save her.  
  
"No, not silly. Very true... Rin." Now Sarah and Mark had another flash, of Kagome holding a little girl with a ponytail on the side of her head, who smiled and ran to Sesshoumaru as though he was her hero. They both turned wide eyes to the woman, then to the Taiyoukai who had begun to follow his niece to them, his own eyes wide.  
  
The moment Renee looked up at Sesshoumaru's face, into the eyes she had burned into her soul, her own memories began to trickle to her, ones of caring for an injured man identical to the one before her, and of being attacked by wolves and revived by that same man. And memories of how he would protect her, and show more concern for her than for anyone else at that time. She tried to look away to gain her balance again, only to look into a pair of sad blue eyes that made her remember a little girl playing with her at some point, laughing and showing off her staff, with her name carved into it, declaring proudly that it was made for her by...  
  
"Sesshoumaru..."  
  
~~*~~  
  
Many tearful hugs later, along with a quiet one from Sesshoumaru himself, who had only let one of two tears slip out, Renee found herself walking around with the Demon Lord, Kai, and Shippou, looking at all the people who would turn and stare at Sesshoumaru in shock. He had left Toukijin, but had brought Tenseiga with him, earning him many requests to hold the sword, and even more questions about its abilities.  
  
Finally, after a couple of hours more, the family all met up again laughing and trading stories about the things they had all seen. Then they realized one part of the group HADN'T returned. When they heard a mike give off slight feedback for a moment, followed by a familiar laugh, the group turned as one to stare at the missing members of their pack.  
  
Taisho, Kaedo, Souta, and Dave all stood on stage with microphones. Almost immediately, music started up, which everyone recognized as "We Will Rock You," by Queen, followed instantly by the song "We Are The Champions," both of which were sung by the four guys.  
  
Kai sighed and hung her head, trying to hide the grin crawling across her face. "I swear, we can't take them anywhere."  
  
But Juro simply draped an arm across his sister's shoulders and smiled at her. "Yeah, but you can't take us anywhere, either."  
  
Shippou moved to wrap his arm across the demoness' shoulders as well, but pulled back after Inuyasha threatened to sic Kagome's grandfather on him. The kitsune shuddered slightly. The man may be old, but he was persistent!  
  
At this sight, Kagome merely held her mate's hand and laughed happily, stopping only to say one sentence, which everyone agreed with.  
  
"Well, there's never a dull moment, at least!"  
  
~~*~~The End~~*~~  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Well!! I wasn't really planning on ending it, it just happened. Yes, it's over. The End. No More. Finito.  
  
You can probably tell that Sesshoumaru and Renee (Rin) will end up together someday, as well as (possibly) Shippou and Kai. As for Juro, Taisho, and Kaedo, well, who knows?? And Dave and Souta? Scary. But Inuyasha and Kagome are glad that this is over. They both say that they can only put up with their kids for so long. That's why they send them to Sesshoumaru and to the shrine so much!! Lol!!!  
  
Well, thanks for reading!!  
  
Ja ne! 


End file.
